"No, sir, excepting at meal time."
"Are you positive enough of your own tally to be willing to swear to it?"
"I am, sir."
"Then you have rounded up the whole case. There is nothing more to be done—nothing more left for me to do except to act on the information you have furnished me, which I shall do at once."
"May I make a suggestion, sir?"
"Certainly."
"If you have any reason to believe this will not fully account for the shortage, would it not be an excellent idea to have the other tally-men inspected?"
Mr. Penton reflected.
"An excellent idea; yes, it shall be done. Tell me how the tally-man, Marvin, worked his end of the game. Although you have not explained that part of it, it goes without saying that he was in collusion with Spooner."
"Yes, sir; so I suspected from the first. I did not like his actions. He appeared to be watching everyone about him. That aroused my suspicion after hearing what I did when you and the mine captain were there. So I watched him without pretending to do so. In the meantime he had driven me away from the tally-boards while I was standing there looking at them. While watching him I distinctly saw the fellow juggle the pegs and give the Spooner contract credit for more loads than were then on the chute. I counted and kept track of the Spooner cars, so that I could check up with Bob. You see, I wanted to make absolutely sure that I was right."