"May I see your dynamo?" asked Lermontoff.
The Governor, with one final warming of his hands, took up a candle,
told the gaoler to remove the shade from the lamp and bring it, led
the way along a passage, and then into a room where the prisoner, on
first entering, had heard the roar of water.
"What's this you have. A turbine? Does it give you any power?"
"Oh, it gives power enough," said the Governor.
"Let's see how you turn on the stream."
The Governor set the turbine at work, and the dynamo began to hum, a
sound which, to the educated ear of Lermontoff, told him several
things.
"That's all right, Governor, turn it off. This is a somewhat
old-fashioned dynamo, but it ought to give you all the light you can
use. You must be a natural born electrician, or you never could have
got this machinery working as well as it does."
The dull eyes of the Governor glowed for one brief moment, then
resumed their customary expression of saddened tiredness.
"Now," said Jack, throwing off his coat, "I want a wrench,
screwdriver, hammer and a pair of pincers if you've got them."
"Here is the tool chest," said the Governor, and Jack found all he
needed. Bidding the Governor hold the candle here, there and
elsewhere, and ordering the gaoler about as if he were an apprentice,
Jack set energetically to work, and for half an hour no one spoke.
"Turn on that water again," he commanded.
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