"I have been watching the boards for two days."
"Indeed?"
"Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, though the tally sheet shows sixty tons as having come from number seventeen sub-level, only forty tons were actually mined there to-day."
Mr. Penton gazed at Steve Rush, who had risen and was standing before the superintendent, erect, steady-eyed and calm.
"Again, my lad, I ask you how you come to be in possession of these figures?"
"My chum, Bob, here, got the figures from the drift to-day."
"Ah, I see. You had arranged the plan?"
"Yes, sir. Bob kept a very careful tally."
"Jarvis, were you absent from sub-level number seventeen at any time during the day?"