As he spoke, he held up before Walter's astonished gaze a large chisel and a fine saw, both of them covered with rust.
Walter and Frank took it by turns, for a week together, to put away all the tools carefully before leaving the yard at night. It was then Walter's week, and he felt sure that he had in no way neglected his duty, and that he had left everything in proper order before going home the previous evening.
The sight of the tools, rusted as they were by exposure to the damp night air, puzzled him extremely.
He held up a large chisel and a fine saw,
both covered with rust.
"I'm quite sure," he said, "that I did not leave those tools out last night."
"Nay, nay, that is only making bad, worse. I found them myself lying on the ground in the open shed yonder. You are generally such a careful lad, that I was the more surprised when I learned that it was your week. All I say is, be more particular for the future, or Mr. King will find that your lessons will cost him dear."
"But, indeed," cried Walter, with a bewildered look, "indeed I put them all away. I recollect perfectly doing so; and it is not so long ago that I could be mistaken."
"I'll not hear another word," replied the foreman, angrily. "Facts speak for themselves, and it is perfectly useless trying to make me disbelieve my own eyes. Who do you think would come here and take the tools out after you had put them away?"
"Who indeed?" thought Walter.