“And what did he say about it?”
“He said not to be too hasty to jump to conclusions. He told me that this substituting of the old inductor compass looked like the work of the mech, but it could be the supply clerk, or, maybe, somebody outside the plant entirely who had sent it in, boxed, in a new consignment. He said the safest way would be to put in a new requisition, then we’d see who acted guilty when it was discovered. If the supply clerk is guilty he would never mention it for fear of being caught. If the mech is the culprit, the clerk will raise a howl about the exchange. If they are both innocent, you’ll hear from both of them, and we can trace it to somebody who sent the consignment.”
“Good stuff!” agreed Curt. “But didn’t the mechanic notice it was a broken model of the compass?”
“He gave me the instructions how to assemble it and told me to be careful, and then went over to work on that small speed craft that Griff is testing out. Griff called him, so it looks all right. If the mech noticed this old compass, before he went home, he’ll tell me, first thing Monday. If he knew about it and had taken the other, the good one——”
“He’ll lay low. I see.”
The watchman, making his rounds, observed the pair. Readily enough he admitted them to the supply department. Either he was of too unsuspicious a nature, being rather dull, to wonder or question; or he had been told by Barney that the youths were especially privileged. In either case he made no comment as they found the cable Curt wanted for Lang and the several extra inductor compasses, neatly boxed, among the stacked instruments in the shelves.
Making out two of the slips he saw in a pad, and fixing them on the upstanding spike of a file, Curt handed Al his box and with the cable went to find Lang.
Handing the strand to his chum’s cousin, Curt decided to return to the office building to see what he might see. The excuse that he was studying the blue prints of an airplane would furnish reason for his presence in the office if Mr. Parsons was still there and asked.
Bob, as Lang left, found Griff suddenly and unaccountably pleasant.
“Funny about that cable,” he remarked.