Just as the town bell rang out four o'clock, Mr. Leslie stepped over the threshold.
He glanced about the place briskly, gave a start as he noticed the heap of account books at Bart's elbow, and looked both pleased and puzzled as his eyes lighted on the safe.
"Why, Stirling!" he exclaimed, "are you a wizard?"
"Not quite," replied Bart with a smile, "but someone else seems to be."
"Are those the office books we thought burned up, and the safe?"
"Yes, sir."
"How is this?"
Bart told of the mysterious return of the books and of the scrap of writing that had led him to dig up the safe.
"That's a pretty strange circumstance," observed Mr. Leslie thoughtfully. "How do you account for it?"
"I can't," admitted Bart, "except to theorize, of course, that someone had enough interest in myself or the company to rush into the burning shed and save the books and close the safe while I was getting my father to safety."