d the weight of the atmosphere does
the rest. Now this man Overholt thinks he can make the atmosphere do
both parts of the work with no steam at all, and as that's absurd, of
course, he won't get any more of my money. It's like getting into a
basket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles."

Each of the two hearers repeated this simple demonstration to at least a
dozen acquaintances, who repeated it to dozens of others; and after that
John Henry Overholt could not raise another dollar to complete the
Air-Motor.

Mr. Burnside's refusal had been definite and final, and he had been the
last to whom the investor had applied, merely because he was undoubtedly
the most close-fisted man of business of all who had invested in the
invention.

Overholt saw failure before him at the very moment of success, with the
not quite indifferent accompaniment of starvation. Many a man as good as
he has been in the same straits, even more than once in life, and has
succeeded after all, and Overholt knew this quite well, and therefore
did not break down, nor despair, nor even show distinct outward signs of
mental distress.

Metaphorically, he took Pandora's box to the Park, put it in a sunny
corner, and sat upon it, to keep the lid down, with Hope inside, while
he thought over the situation.

It was not at all a pleasant one. It is one thing to have no money to
spare, but it is quite another to have none at all, and he was not far
from that. He had some small possessions, but those with which he was
willing to part were worth nothing, and those which would bring a little
money were the expensive tools and valuable materials with which he was
working. For he worked alone, profiting by his experience with the
mechanic who had robbed him of one of his most profitable patents. When
the idea of the Air-Motor had occurred to him he had gone into a
machine-shop and had spent nearly two years in learning the use of fine
tools. Then he had bought what he needed out of the money invested in
his idea, and had gone to work himself, sending models of such castings
as he required to different parts of the United States, that the pieces
might be made independently.

He was not an accomplished workman, and he made slow progress with only
his little son to help him when the boy was not at school. Often,
through lack of skill, he wasted good material, and more than once he
spoiled an expensive casting, and was obliged to wait till it could be
ma