Instead of going directly back to Fletcherwood, however, Craig
had told the chauffeur to stop at the plant of the local electric
light and power company, where he asked if he might see the
record of the amount of current used the night before.
The curve sprawled across the ruled surface of the sheet by the
automatic registering-needle was irregular, showing the ups and
downs of the current, rising sharply from sundown and gradually
declining after nine o'clock, as the lights went out. Somewhere
between eleven and twelve o'clock, however, the irregular fall of
the curve was broken by a quite noticeable upward twist.
Craig asked the men if that usually happened. They were quite
sure that the curve as a rule went gradually down until twelve
o'clock, when the power was shut off. But they did not see
anything remarkable in it. "Oh, I suppose some of the big houses
had guests," volunteered the foreman, "and just to show off the
place perhaps they turned on all the lights. I don't know, sir,
what it was, but it couldn't have been a heavy drain, or we would
have noticed it at the time, and the lights would all have been
dim."
"Well," said Craig, "just watch and see if it occurs again
to-night about the same time."
"All right, sir."
"And when you close down the plant for the night, will you bring
the record card up to Fletcherwood?" asked Craig, slipping a bill
into the pocket of the foreman's shirt.
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