14,237. I don't quite understand how you knew about Grains having been unwilling to pay his account?-I knew it when he came to the office to give back the money that I had paid him at the Custom House.
14,238. Did he refuse to give you back the money?-He did; not all, but part of it.
14,239. Did he want to pay only a portion of his account?-Yes.
14,240. Did he say that to you when he came to the office?-Yes.
14,241. Was that the first intimation you had got of his intention to keep part of the money?-I think so.
14,242. Did you object to that, and tell him he must pay the whole?-I did.
14,243. Did you intimate what the consequences would be if he did not?-Yes; I daresay I told him that we would pull him up. I considered that we had run a considerable risk in giving him an outfit for his first year at Greenland, and that we were entitled to get the advance repaid, because we might never see him again.
14,244. Have you had occasion to advise any of the men on other occasions as to the propriety of paying agents' accounts, or giving them similar advice to what you gave in the case of Grains?-No; I think that was the only case which has occurred out of many hundreds.
14,245. Have the men always walked down quietly enough to your office?-Yes.
14,246. And often in company with you?-Very often. Perhaps, if there was one, he came back with me; but, as a rule, I would often stay behind for a little, or go down to the office by some other way.