The increase of efficiency in the work at the Kay mine was due to one thing,—the ceaseless vigilance of Stephen Loring, and the outward circumstances were only the manifestation of the changed conditions within himself. One who had known Loring, the failure, would scarcely have recognized Loring, the success. The chin line no longer drooped, his smile showed honest pride in the goodness of his work, his movements were alert, his head thrown back. His skin was ruddy and his eyes clear, yet the marks about his mouth showed traces of the struggle through which he had passed, and there were new lines of care lying in furrows across his forehead. He had aged under responsibility, and something of the old, lazy charm which had endeared him to his friends was gone; but a stranger looking at him would have appreciated at once that here was a man of force, one who meant to be master, and who was fitted to be. It is possible that the change in his dress contributed as much as the more subtle developments, for Loring, in his blue suit, soft white shirt, and well-oiled tan boots, was a very different looking man from the shabbily clothed wanderer who had sought work last year in Phœnix. On one autumn afternoon Stephen sat at the desk in his office, engaged in dictating a report to the directors of the Company. Above the rattle and click of the typewriter his voice rose and fell monotonously: “The construction work alone is behind. Within the workings three new stopes have been opened since last report, at positions marked on the enclosed print. The ore in these has been running high, averaging”—(he paused and glanced at the assayers’ report lying on the table beside him) “averaging twelve per cent copper. If the contact vein continues to run in its present direction, the ore from the new stopes which we are opening may be reached cheaply by means of winzes from the three hundred foot level.” Loring verified this carefully from the foreman’s report, then nodded to the stenographer to proceed. “The cost of production has been reduced five per cent in the last month. If the present favorable prices for the coke continue, I hope to reduce this still more. I enclose for the first time a detailed statement of expense distributed per department, made possible by the new system of bookkeeping which has been adopted.” Here he paused. “That is all for the present,” he said. Then he picked up the construction report and with a frown reread it. “That is bad work,” he murmured. “With all the men whom Fitz had under him, he should have done better, and accomplished more.” “Oh, Reade!” he called to the stenographer who had gone into the back room, “come back here! I have something to add to that report.” The stenographer came in, and again took his place before the typewriter. “Owing to the slowness of the work on the exterior construction, I have found it necessary to dispense with the services of Mr. Fitz.”