Is there something wrong with this schematic or am I just disabled?

So I've spent the better part of two weeks reading up on digital electronics to help me understand how this circuit works. https://cdn.instructables.com/F16/DHUN/HJ39PMU7/F16DHUNHJ39PMU7.LARGE.jpg?auto=webp&frame=1&fit=bounds

Ive learned a lot. It's a joule thief circuit that uses solar cells to charge a battery that will use a transistor to sense when it is night time and turn on an LED.

I really want to make this into a lantern for camping but I'm having problems getting it on the breadboard.

I lay down and solder everything up to the battery, but when I go to hook up the battery stuff starts to smoke. I'm using 3 AA NiMH batteries wired in series and putting the positive wire just after the diode and the ground wire just before the inductor on the positive rail.

When I flip the two wires around I dont get any smoke but the Q2 and L1 get really hot.

I think theres gotta be something up with the schematic as it has me connecting the ground of the battery and everything past it onto the positive rail. I'm 99.9% sure I'm wiring my breadboard according to the schematic.

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