"I have been thinking of that. I'll tell you what I want you to do to-morrow. Go to the pay clerk and time checker and find out who is left in the mine after all hands who are going to do so have checked in and drawn their wages. When you get the list bring it below to me. I will meet you somewhere near the chutes on seventeen. I want only the names of those who belong on the shift working Saturday afternoon. There will not be many of them."
Jarvis carried out his instructions and brought the list to Rush on the following day. The two boys scanned the list keenly, after which they made tours of the working drifts, finding all the men at their stations and no one in the mine who did not belong there.
"I'm coming back to-night," decided Steve with emphasis. "I am satisfied that the people we are looking for are not on the day shift. We will come down about eight o'clock, by way of the ladders, and prowl quietly about. We will use our candles only when we get in drifts where there is no one at work."
"We won't catch anyone. They're too sharp for us."
"Perhaps not to-night, but we'll get them if it takes a year to do it. I'll never give up till I have won this game of hide and seek. When you go after a thing, Bob, make up your mind you're going to get it. You'll land somewhere near the mark if you follow that policy."
"I've got the dynamite report here for you."
Steve examined the report carefully. He had done a very shrewd thing. He had held the keeper of the dynamite stores responsible for a complete list of all the sticks of dynamite given out to the miners each day, and then had visited the drifts to find out how many charges had been fired and how many sticks had been used. As dynamite is never issued, except for immediate use, there could be none left over after the day's work was done. By the time the holes are drilled a messenger is on hand with just enough sticks of the deadly stuff to fill the holes.
After checking up, the young inspectors found that twelve sticks of the explosive were unaccounted for. They had been drawn from the stores, but not used.
"We are beginning to get somewhere, old chap," Steve said, nodding to his companion.