asked, as Joe looked up.

"What men, lad?"

And the single eye was expressionless as it met the questioning glance
of the young engineer.

"Steve Croly was one; most of them were the new hands."

"He might be telling of them how he coom oot of here when A toald him to
goo," said the fireman, with his hideous grin.

"Not very likely, Joe," Larry replied, as he passed on into the
engine-room.

The boy was troubled and mystified now from a new cause.

Joe Cuttle was one of the new men, and, although he had been uniformly
faithful, Larry was sure that he was standing in the doorway of the
fire-room when he first came inside the gates, and that Joe must have
seen those who were only a few yards distant conversing so
mysteriously.

If he saw them, why did he try to evade the fact?

It was this more than any other circumstance that made Larry uneasy. He
did not think the difficulty bore any relation to his encounter with
Steve Croly in the morning, for of course Joe would not try to withhold
any knowledge of that affair.