“Who are you, sir?” he asked.

“John Burke, a detective.”

The manager hesitated a moment.

“Come in, Mr. Burke,” he said.

“I represent the Forbes interests,” said the detective, seating himself in the private office, “and it has come to our notice that Dr. Squiers has permitted sixty-six fraudulent registrations to be entered on the books.  These sixty-six men are supposed to have been imported by you and are now working at this mill.”

“This is all nonsense!” protested the manager, growing pale.

“Forty men are sleeping in a near-by barn, and twenty-six in the stock-room of the mill,” added Mr. Burke.

“That isn’t criminal, sir.”

“No, indeed.  The criminal act is their false registration, so far,” said the detective, blandly.

“But mark you, sir; if an attempt is made to vote those men tomorrow, I shall arrest you, as well as Mr. Hopkins and Dr. Squiers.”

“This is preposterous, sir!” blustered the manager.  “There will be no attempt made to vote them.”

“I am quite sure of it,” was the reply.  “You may thank Mr. Forbes for warning you in time.  He wished to save you, and so sent me here.”

“Oh, he did!” Mr. Marshall was evidently surprised.  “May I ask how you discovered all this?” he added.

“I am not at liberty to give you the details.  But I may say the exposure of the plot occurred through Mr. Hopkins’s own carelessness.  I’ve seen lots of crooked politicians, Mr. Marshall, but this man is too reckless and foolish ever to be a success.  He deserves to be defeated and he will be.”

The manager was thoughtful.

“This is all news to me,” he declared.  “I needed these extra men to help me fill a contract on time, and so employed them.  I had no idea Hopkins and Squiers would try to vote them tomorrow.”

This was a palpable falsehood, but Mr. Burke accepted the lame excuse without question.

“You are a valuable man in this community, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Forbes seemed to think the Hopkins people were trying to get you into trouble.  Of course it would have caused trouble had these men voted.”

“Of course, Mr. Burke.  I’m much obliged to Mr. Forbes for warning me.”

“You’ll find the next Representative a very agreeable man to get along with, Mr. Marshall.  Good day, sir.”

“Good day, Mr. Burke.”

When the detective had gone Mr. Marshall sat in a brown study for a few moments.  Then he summoned his superintendent and said: 

“Please ask the men to assemble in the yard before they go home.  I want to have a word with them.”

The request came just in time, for the men were already beginning to stream out of the mill.  They waited good-naturedly, however, grouping themselves in the big yard.

Then Marshall mounted a lumber pile and addressed them briefly.