"Mr. Jarvis has a saw that we found there. It belongs to one of the timber-men, and was stolen from him the day before the accident." The superintendent pricked up his ears at this. "I learned that fact this morning. He doesn't know that we have the saw. We found it where it had evidently been thrown by the person who used it. And here is something else, sir." Steve laid the broken pieces of plank on a table. Mr. Penton picked them up, turning them over in his hands, pausing when he discovered the marks of the saw, then he glanced at Steve. "What is this?" "It is the support that rested under the post holding up the old trap," answered the lad. "Then--then----" "Someone had sawed it partly through, so the support would give way and let someone else down. I happened to be the one who was let down." The smile vanished from the eyes of the general superintendent and the lines of his face hardened perceptibly. "How do you know this piece supported the post?" "You will find the mark of the post on it. We fitted the post to the mark to make sure. Whoever did the job, entered the skip shaft from sub-level seventeen. I am sure of this, because I found fresh mud on the rungs of the ladder. No one is supposed to go down there, is he, sir?" "No; no one does go down there. This is very serious. Why did not my men discover all these things?" "I guess they did not look very sharply. The evidence was there to be found if one looked hard enough." "Rush, you suspect someone?" said Mr. Penton sharply. "Whom do you suspect?" "Perhaps this may answer the question," answered the lad, laying on the table a brass time check about the size of a half dollar. "Where--where did you get this?" "On the platform where the job was done, sir," answered Steve, directing a steady gaze at the stern face of the superintendent. CHAPTER XVII THEIR FIRST PROMOTION "Wait a minute," said Mr. Penton, hurrying across the hall to the office of the time-keepers. He was gone but a few moments and when he returned there was a look on his face that Steve had never seen there before. It was a look that meant trouble for someone. The superintendent sat down, gazing out of the window at the towering shaft of the Cousin Jack Mine. "You did not answer my previous question. I asked you whom you suspected." "I dislike to make so serious a charge against anyone, sir, but a certain man was seen standing near the door leading down to the platform the day before I fell in. Two persons saw him." "Who was the man?" "The man was Spooner, sir." "You are sure of that?" "Sure of it according to my information." "Well, lad, this is Spooner's time check that you have brought to me," replied Mr. Penton in an impressive voice. "I reckon that evidence would hang a live cat," muttered Bob Jarvis. "Yes, it is sufficient evidence to warrant my looking up the man and lodging a complaint against him. Was he alone when he was seen at the door of the shaft, or don't you know?"