"You mean that you want him watched?" asked Canfield.
"Sure!" answered Tommy. "He sawed the rungs in the shaft, didn't he?
He could get ten years for that!"
"All right," replied Canfield. "I'll send word out and have him arrested if you are positive that he is the man that did the cutting."
"We are positive that he's the man," replied Will, "but it'll spoil everything if you have him arrested. We want to give him a free hand for a time, and see what he will do. He's a crook, and he's bound to show it! And another thing," the boy went on, "we don't want anyone to know that he is under suspicion. We just want him watched."
"You're handling the case," smiled Canfield, "and I'll take any steps you advise. I can't tell you how sorry I am that I brought the detective in here this morning!"
"Well," Will said, "we put up a bluff about getting out of town and perhaps we can make that stick. We can take a train out and come back in on a lonely freight, and get into the mine without his knowing anything about it. The mine is the best place to work from, anyway!"
"That's why I wanted to know how soon the mine could be pumped out!" stated Tommy. "I don't care about wading around in a mess of water that's blacker than a stack of black cats."
"I think I can have the mine fairly dry by the time you boys get out of town and back again!" laughed Canfield.
"Well," Tommy said, "then you'd better got a couple of dry-goods boxes and fill them full of good things to eat, and drop 'em down to the first level. Perhaps you know of a cozy little chamber there where we can set up housekeeping."
"I know just the place," said the caretaker. "To the left of the old tool house there's a room where odd articles of every description have been stored for any number of years. The blacksmith and the fire-boss used to go there to smoke and tell stores, if I remember right."