"Never."
"In the last two months?" The Thinking Machine persisted.
"Not in the last two years," was the positive reply. "I go on duty every night at seven o'clock, and I am on duty until seven in the morning. I don't believe I've seen anybody in the basement here with me between those hours for a year at least."
The Thinking Machine was squinting steadily into the eyes of the engineer, and for a time both were silent. Hatch moved about the scrupulously clean engine room and nodded to the day engineer, who sat leaning back against the wall. Directly in front of him was the steam gauge.
"Have you a fireman?" was The Thinking Machine's next question.
"No. I fire myself," said the night man. "Here's the coal," and he indicated a bin within half a dozen feet of the mouth of the boiler.
"I don't suppose you ever had occasion to handle the gas meter?" insisted The Thinking Machine.
"Never touched it in my life," said the other. "I don't know anything about meters, anyway."
"And you never drop off to sleep at night for a few minutes when you get lonely? Doze, I mean?"
The engineer grinned good-naturedly.