lies."

Yet the more the three pondered over the matter the greater became
the puzzle. The notes of the surveyor, Matt Rice, and of the
leveler, 'Gene Black, were at utter variance.

"We must get hold of these men as soon as they come in tonight,"
exclaimed Mr. Thurston, much disturbed. "We must find out just
which one is at fault."

"Rice is a very reliable man, sir," spoke up Tom.

"Yes; but Blaisdell reports that Black thoroughly understands
his work, too," grumbled the chief. "We must settle this tonight."

"May I make a suggestion, sir?" asked Tom.

"Certainly. Go ahead."

"There is no use, sir, in my going ahead with this profile drawing,
if there's a chance that the sights turned in by Black are wrong.
Until we know, my time at this drawing board may all be wasted.
Trotter, one of the rodmen, is in camp today. I might take him,
and a level along, and go over the foresights and backsights myself.
All of the stakes will be in place. In two hours I ought to
have a very good set of leveling notes. Then I can bring them
back and compare them with Black's sights."

"Can you run a level well?" inquired Mr. Thurston.