Brandon of the Engineers

Stuyvesant crossed the floor and measured the blocks with a micrometer

gage, after which he filled two of the graduated glass measures and then

weighed the water.

"Well?" he said to Bethune, who had picked up Dick's calculations.

"The figures are right; he's only out in a small decimal."

Stuyvesant took the papers and compared them with a printed form he

produced from his pocket.

"They correspond with the tests the maker claims his stuff will stand,

and we can take it that they're accurate. Still, this doesn't prove that

Oliva stole the cement from us. The particular make is popular on this

coast, and he may have bought a quantity from somebody else. Did you

examine the bags on the mole, Brandon?"

"No," said Dick, "I had to get my samples in the dark. If Oliva bought

the cement, he must have kept it for some time, because the only man in

the town who stocks it sold the last he had three months ago. The next

thing is our storekeeper's tally showing the number of bags delivered to

him. I sat up half the night trying to balance this against what he

handed out and could make nothing of the entries."

"Let me see," said Bethune, and lighted a cigarette when Dick handed him

a book, and a bundle of small, numbered forms. "You can talk, if you

like," he added as he sharpened a pencil.

Dick moved restlessly up and down the floor, examining the testing

apparatus, but he said nothing, and Stuyvesant did not speak. He was a

reserved and thoughtful man. After a time, Bethune threw the papers on

the table.

"François isn't much of a bookkeeper," he remarked. "One or two of the

delivery slips have been entered twice, and at first I suspected he might

have conspired with Oliva. Still, that's against my notion of his

character, and I find he's missed booking stuff that had been given out,

which, of course, wouldn't have suited the other's plans."

"You can generally count on a Frenchman's honesty," Stuyvesant observed.

"But do you make the deliveries ex-store tally with what went in?"

"I don't," said Bethune dryly. "Here's the balance I struck. It shows the

storekeeper is a good many bags short."

He passed the paper across, and Dick examined it with surprise.

"You have worked this out already from the muddled and blotted entries!

Do you think you've got it right?"

"I'm sure," said Bethune, smiling. "I'll prove it if you like. We know

how much cement went into stock. How many molded blocks of the top course

have we put down at the dam?"

Dick told him, and after a few minutes' calculation Bethune looked up.

"Then here you are! Our concrete's a standard density; we know the weight

of water and sand and what to allow for evaporation. You see my figures

agree very closely with the total delivery ex-store."