"Telephone to the superintendent that we have the man," commanded Steve. "Hurry, now! Don't stop to ask questions. Tell him we are bringing the fellow up in the skip."
Spooner by this time had recovered sufficiently to walk with an Iron Boy on each side of him. In that formation they made their way to the skip.
"None of your funny business now, unless you want another thump on the jaw," warned Jarvis threateningly.
Mr. Penton had not arrived when they reached the surface, so they took their prisoner to the dry house, leaving word with the skip-tender to send Mr. Penton over there at once.
The superintendent was not long in reaching the shaft, whence he hurried to the place indicated.
"Mr. Penton, we have caught the guilty man," announced Steve. "There he is."
"What—who is he?" demanded the official half unbelievingly, peering sharply at the prisoner.
"On the pay roll he is John Klink. His other name is Spooner. He is stouter and has grown a beard since you saw him last."
The superintendent uttered an exclamation of amazement. Steve briefly related all that had occurred. Under pressure, Spooner made a confession before they left the dry house that night of the whole miserable business. It was he who had dropped the dynamite into the shaft. But he declared that it was his partner, Marvin, also working in the mine under an assumed name, who had lured Steve Rush to the lower level and pushed him in. It was Marvin, too, who, by thrusting a monkey wrench into the machinery, had stripped the gear and put the cage mechanism out of business.