“Well, you see, I'll tell you what we've got.” And Bill proceeded to do so. From time to time Tommy interrupted to read aloud from his notes. Then Mr. Kemble began, and Bill was more impressed by the lawyer's questions than he had been by the scientist's, for they were the questions Bill felt he himself would have asked a brother inventor. In the end he admitted almost cheerfully that it didn't do so well when the engine ran above nine hundred revolutions. He was sure the high currency ionized the gas, but he somehow had not got it to ionizing fast enough. “Lots of engines,” he finished, defensively, “don't run any faster than that.” “How much have you actually used this thing?” asked Kemble, coming back to Bill's own. “On the bench. But we've tried it out pretty well,” answered Bill. He produced his cards. Kemble studied them. “And it starts cold!” said Bill. “Is that so?” Kemble looked up quickly at Bill, for the first time appearing to be really interested. “Yep!” he said, triumphantly. Since they thought this a very important point, Tommy asked the lawyer, “Could we get a patent on that?” “Yes, if it's new,” answered Kemble. “Sure it's new. There isn't any other in the market,” said Bill. “That's a fact,” chimed in Tommy. “I'll have to look into that,” said the patent lawyer, calmly. “If there was any patent, people would be using it, wouldn't they?” challenged Bill, unaware that all inventors make the same point at their first interview with their patent lawyers. “That may be true,” was all that Kemble would admit. “What do you need besides this,” asked Bill, pointing to his carburetor, “to file an application for a patent?” “Well, you'd better leave that here and find out what your dynamo and transformer are. In fact, I think you'd better send them on to me. That would be the easiest way. When did you first run this?” After some guessing, Bill told him. “You ought to keep a careful date record.” “What's that for?” “As a record of your priority in case somebody else has the same thing.” “We've got the priority all right,” Bill assured him. All inventors always are sure of it. Tommy, who had begun to fidget uneasily, now asked Kemble, “About how much is this going to cost us?” Kemble shook his head and smiled. “I can't tell you now. It depends upon the experiments you make and the results you get.” “Can't we file an application now to protect ourselves?” persisted Tommy, who knew how uneasy Bill felt about it. “Yes, I could do that. But I'd like to see Jenkins first. You'd better plan to spend about two hundred and fifty dollars--” Kemble stopped talking when he saw the consternation on both boys' faces. He had been rather favorably impressed with them. He added, “Well, you send me the generator and the transformer, and when I know more about it I'll let you know more definitely.” “If I am going to make the experiments, how can I send them to you?”