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we ought to be." "Aren't you?" "Practically, yes. There was no set limit of work to be done for the intermediate payments. We bonded ourselves to have the tunnel done at a certain date. "If we fail, we lose a large sum, and if we get it done ahead of time we get a big premium. There was no question as to completing a certain amount of footage before we received certain payments. But Senor Belasdo, the government representative, claims that we will not be done in time, and therefore he is holding back money due us. I'm sure the rival contractors have set him up to this, because he was always decent to us before. "Another matter, too, makes me suspicious. We have tried to raise money in New York to tide us over while the government is holding up our funds here. But our New York office is meeting with difficulties. They report there is a story current to the effect that we are going to fail, and while that isn't so, you know how hard it is to borrow money in the face of such rumors. We are doing all we can to fight them, of course, and maybe we'll beat out our rivals yet. "But that isn't all. I'm sure some one is on the ground here trying to make trouble among our workers. I never knew so many men to leave, one after another. It's keeping the employment agency in Lima busy supplying us with new workers. And so many of them are unskilled. They aren't able to do half the work of the old men, and poor Tim Sullivan is in despair." "You think some one here is causing dissensions and desertions among your men?" "I'm sure of it! I've tried to ferret out who it is, but the spy, for such he must be, keeps his identity well hidden." Tom thought for a moment. Then he said: "Mr. Titus, with your permission, I'll see if I can find out about this for you." "Find out what, Tom?" "What is causing the men to leave. I don't believe it's the scare about the ten missing ones." "Nor do I. That's past and gone. But how are you going to get at the bottom of it?" "By keeping watch. I've got nothing to do now for the next week. We've just set off a big blast, and I've got the powder for the following one all ready. The men will be busy for some time getting out the broken rock. Now what I propose to do is to go in the tunnel and work among them until I can learn something. "I can understand the language pretty well now, though I can't speak much of it. I'll go in the tunnel every day and find out what's going on.
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