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Page 33
"Hey, there! Stirling."
Bart was busy at his desk in the express office, but turned quickly as
he recognized the tones.
Trouble in the shape of Lem Wacker loomed up at the doorway.
"What is it?" asked Bart.
It was a week after the Fourth, and in all that time Bart had not seen
anything of the man whom he secretly believed was responsible for the
fire at the old express office.
"Who's the responsible party here?" demanded Lem, making a great ado
over consulting a book he carried.
"I am."
"All right, then--I represent Martin & Company, pickle factory."
"Oh, you've found a job, have you," spoke Bart, forced to smile at the
bombastic business air assumed by his visitor.
"I represent Martin & Company," came from Wacker, in a solemn,
dignified way. "Inspector. We want a rebate on that bill of lading."
Lem removed a slip from his loose-leaf book and tendered it to Bart.
"What's the matter with it?" inquired Bart.
"Consignment short," announced Wacker.
Bart looked him squarely in the eyes. Wacker had made the announcement
malignantly. His gaze dropped.
"I'm hired to stop the leaks," he mumbled, "and if this office is
responsible for any of them I'm the man to find it out."
"Well, in the present instance your claim is sheer folly. I see you note
here one hundred and fifty pounds shortage. What is your basis?"
"I weighed them myself."
Bart consulted his books. Then he turned again to Wacker.
"This consignment was shipped as nine hundred and fifty pounds," he
said. "It weighed that at the start."
"That's what the shipping agent says, yes."
"And you claim eight hundred pounds?"
"Exactly."
"It was weighed up here when received--nine hundred and fifty pounds."
"Come off!" jeered Wacker. "Wasn't I an express agent once and don't I
know the ropes? What receiving agent ever takes the trouble to
re-weigh!"
"My father did--I always do," announced Bart flatly.
"Even if you did," persisted Wacker, "what little one-horse agent dares
to dispute the big company's weight at the other end of the line?"
"Oh," observed Bart smoothly, "you think there is a sort of collusion,
do you?"
"Yes, I do--I am an expert!"
"Sorry to disturb the profundity of your calculations, Mr. Wacker," said
Bart quietly, "but in the present instance there could not possibly be
any mistake. Our scales were burned up in the fire. The new ones have
not yet arrived, and in the meantime, as a temporary accommodation, our
weighing is done up at the in-freight platform by the official weigh
master of the road. I fancy Martin & Company will accept that
verification as final. Don't you think so, Mr. Wacker?"
Lem Wacker snatched the paper Bart returned to him with a positive
growl.
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