gaged to some extent in real estate speculations, and he hinted
to me that these operations occupied a considerable portion of his
time. He had simply directed me to post the books, but having mastered
the system, I was disposed to show him that I was competent to keep the
books alone. I footed up the columns of the invoice and sales books,
and I intended to surprise him, at the end of the month, by showing him
a trial balance and a statement of results. I thought I could do this,
and it would be a feather in my cap if I succeeded. It would not only
be good practice for me, but it would show the exact condition of the
business.

While I was at work on the invoice book, I found what appeared to me to
be an error. The invoices, or bills of lumber purchased by the firm,
were all carefully filed away. On referring to the original document, I
found it footed up five instead of fifteen thousand dollars. I turned
to the cash book, and found that fifteen thousand dollars had been paid
on account of this transaction, and I concluded that there must be
another bill. I could find no other. The purchase had been made while I
was in the office, and I remembered the bill.

I decided to examine all the invoices from the first day of the year,
and compare them with the entries in the book, which had been
transferred to the ledger. I discovered four other entries for which
there were no invoices at all. In other words, there was merchandise to
the amount of about thirty-five thousand dollars of which I could
obtain no knowledge whatever. However, I went on with my trial balance,
and the result, when I had completed it, was startling to me. My
statement showed that the firm had lost over ten thousand dollars in
five months, taking the stock on hand at cost and considering all debts
good.

The head salesman kept what he called a "lumber book." The first entry
in it was the amount of stock on hand at the beginning of the year. To
this was added all lumber bought, and from it all sales were deducted,
so that the book showed the amount of lumber of each kind on hand. This
he did so as to be able at all times to report what new stock was
needed, and then Mr. Whippleton ordered it. As there was not a great
variety of merchandise, the keeping of this book did not demand much
labor, each salesman being required to deduct his sales from the gross
amounts.

None of the invoices which were missing had been entered in this book.
It appeared, th