Cholmondeley: Show me this cow shit. Pigeon shit? Yeah, better. Now wood.
Delaney: Some birch, but it's mostly hazel.
Cholmondeley: Oak's better. What about piss?
Delaney: I'm sorry?
Cholmondeley: Human urine is by far the best for leeching the ash. Especially with traces of alcohol. How many humans live here?
Delaney: Three. I sent them away. Ask me no more questions and speak to me only of chemistry.
Cholmondeley: If you mix the pigeon shit and the cow shit at a ratio of around 60/40 in favor of the pigeon, and if you burned this stack of wood today, you could soak the ashes with 50 gallons of human piss and leave for a minimum of a year, and then, my friend. you would have gunpowder.
Delaney: I don't have a year.
Cholmondeley: Well, I have a theory that the introduction of several barrels of saltpeter that have already been refined at the start of the process can cut the leeching stage down to 4 weeks.
Delaney: Theory?
Cholmondeley: Yes, but my theories are always right.
Delaney: As far as I know, there is only one place one can find refined saltpeter.
Cholmondeley: Two: the bat caves of Burma, where the batshit refines itself, or the warehouse at the East India company.
Delaney: You are hired. As to the saltpeter I will get it for you.