"Lets have a look at that thing, make it yerself did yer?" asked Sykes as he took the proffered harmonizer from Tim with obvious interest.
"Clever piece of work is that, never seen anything like it. So what you and Garm are hoping to build is something like this, is it? Can't you just build a bigger version of the same arrangement? No, of course not, now I see the problems you have to deal with, got a real job on your hands alright.
Well I'll help out when I can, so why don't you set yourselves up in back of my yard where you can work undisturbed and yet be handy for what you might need from me and my lads."
"I was hoping you'd say that Sykes and you know you can always call on me when you need my help." said Garm gratefully for it had been the hoped for response but by no means to be taken for granted.
"Thank you very much" added Tim "I'd be happy to make another harmonizer for yourself, if you'd like one?"
"Nay lad, I've enough troubles without adding musicianship to the list. Mind you, it does produce a nice melodic sound, does that. Better than many another musical instrument I've heard on occasion. Them damn screeching stringed wotnots they play when theres a bit of a shindig going on for a marriage or similar." Sykes gruffly summed up his opinion of music in general, all other instruments included by inference.
"I knew about how much he dislikes music" Garm told Tim later once they had got set up properly and out of earshot of the boatbuilder, "so I wasn't holding out for much help from him. Catch him on a bad day and you won't get a civil word out of him. He can curse like you wouldn't believe, enough to turn the air blue.
You'll see that side of him soon enough I don't doubt, so don't be surprised when it happens, keep a civil tongue in your head or better still say nothing until the storm passes after which he'll be right regretful and anxious to show no harm was meant.
That's when you want to be asking for whatever it is you might be needing from him. You have to know how to use a tool properly to get the most out of it and folks aint no different."
Tim nodded in agreement and forbore to mention that as a skilled tool maker and user he was well aware of the truth of Garms advice. Sometimes it was best to let a well meant comment seem accepted as valuable advice which was, after all, proof that Tim did know how to use a tool properly, at which thought he grinned.
Spotting this Garm said "I suppose you've heard that one before, eh lad? Don't deny it, your face told me that! I just can't help meself sometimes and trots out these old saws without a second thought. Comes of being a tribal leader and father I suppose, talking of which I'm going to leave you to work by yourself for a while while I goes off to see if theres any news about Blaise."
Tim was too involved with his notes to really pay heed to Garms comments so he simply gave a grunt of assent since his brain was back at his toymaking shop in Hoddes Town, running through his memories of what had seemed to have the most promise in the sound making experiments.
Glass for example gave the most eerie sounds but was the very devil to work mechanically. He'd found out its potential accidentally when he went to wipe off a dirty smudge from his wine glass rim and had been surprised by the sound that action produced. A series of trials showed that a fiddle bow was the most reliable sound generator but how on earth could a mechanism manage to reliably do that? Perhaps a spinning leather disc might work?
It would be worth pursuing this glassy means of sound production simply because of its unusual tone and if it could be combined with a reed note such as the harmonizer produced, the two together would be unique in depth and colour.
So the day passed by as Tim began to consolidate his various ideas and test results into a very simple prototype drawing of a mechanism that would actuate two dissimilar sources independently or in unison. Now all he had to do was build it but at that point he realized he was hungry, thirsty and the light was fading at which point he heard a polite cough from behind.
"I been watching you on and off all day, lad" said Sykes "and I brung you a pasty and a mug of saloop if you aint too proud to accept food from a stranger! Damn but I wish some of my lads could work as hard as you do. By the way wheres Garm, aint he with you?"
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