约翰叔叔从露易丝的一句话中受到启发，怀疑撺掇维格和哈克斯投资的韦斯特骗取了他们的钱，他决定插手调查此事。他往纽约自己入股的木材公司打电话了解情况，还找到了乔。从乔那儿了解到维格将投资换得的股票放到了一个橱柜的秘密抽屉中，但是钥匙却离奇丢失了……
Louise and Beth returned to the farm in dismal silence.Every prop had been knocked from beneath their carefully erected temple of mystery.Now there was no mystery at all.
In a few words，Joe Wegg had explained everything，and explained all so simply and naturally that Louise felt like sobbing with the bitterness of a child deprived of its pet plaything.The band of self—constituted girl detectives had been "put out of business，"as Patsy said，because the plain fact had developed that there was nothing to detect，and never had been.There had been no murder，no robbery，no flight or hiding on the part of the Weggs to escape an injured enemy；nothing even mysterious，in the light of the story they had just heard.It was dreadfully humiliating and thoroughly dishearteninga，after all their earnest endeavor to investigate a crime that had never been committed.
Uncle John rallied his nieces on their somber faces at the dinner table，and was greatly amused when the Major，despite the appealing looks directed at him，gave Mr.Merrick a brief resume of the afternoon's developments.
"Well，I declare！"said the little man，merrily；"didn't Iwarn you，Louise，not to try to saddle a murder onto my new farm？How you foolish girls could ever have imagined such a carnival of crime in connection with the Weggs is certainly remarkable.""I don't know about that，sir，"returned the Major，seriously."I was meself inoculated with the idea，and for a while I considered meself and the girls the equals of all the Pinkertons in the country.And when ye come to think of it，the history of poor Captain Wegg and his wife，and of Nora and Thomas as well，is out of the ordinary entirely，and，without the explanation，contained all the elements of a ？rst—class mystery.""How did you say the Weggs lost their money？"inquired Uncle John，turning the subject because he saw that it embarrassed his nieces.
"Why，forest fires at Almaquo，in Canada，burneddown the timber they had bought，"replied the Major."And，by the way，John，you're interested in that matter yourself，for the Pierce—Lane Lumber Company，in which you own a lot of stock，had contracted to cut the timber on a royalty.""How long ago？""Three years，sir.""Well，we've been cutting timber at Almaquo ever since，"said Mr.Merrick.
Louise dropped her fork with a clatter，disclosing，in thiswell—bred young lady，an unusual degree of excitement."Then there is something to detect！"she cried."Eh？What do you mean？"inquired her uncle.
"If you've been cutting timber at Almaquo for three years，the trees couldn't have burned down，"Louise declared，triumphantly.
"That is evident，"said the Major，dryly."I've had it in me mind，Louise，to take that matter up for investigation；but you are so imbued with the detective spirit that there's no heading you off a trail.""Before the dessert comes on，"announced Uncle John，impressively，"I want to make a statement.You folks have tried your hands at the detective business and made a mess of it.Now it's my turn.I'll be a detective for three days，and if I don't succeed better than you did，young women，we'll mingle our tears in all humility.Eh，Major？""Put me in the bunch，sir，"said the old soldier，"I was as bad as any of them.And go ahead in your own way，if ye like.It's me humble opinion，John，that you're no Sherlock Holmes；but ye won't believe it 'til ye satisfy yourself of the fact."Next morning the loungers around Sam Cotting's store were thrown into a state of great excitement when "the nabob"came over from the Wegg farm and held the long—distance telephone for more than an hour，while he talked with people in New York.The natives knew that their telephone，which was built into a small booth at one end of the store—next thepost—of？ce boxes—was part of a system that made it possiblefor one to talk to those in far away cities.Often the country people would eye the mysterious—looking instrument with awe and whisper to each other of its mighty powers；but no one had ever before used it to telephone farther than the Junction，and then only on rare occasions.
"It'll cost a heap o'money，Sam，"said McNutt，uneasily，while Uncle John was engaged in his remarkable conversation.They could see him in the booth，through the little window.
"It will，Mac，"was the solemn reply."But the fool nabob may as well spend it thet way as any other.It's mighty little of his capital er surplus gits inter my cash—drawer；'n'thet's a fact."Uncle John came from the booth，perspiring，but smilingand happy.He walked across the street to see Joe Wegg，and found the youth seated in a rocking—chair and looking quite convalescenta.But he had company.In a chair opposite sat a man neatly dressed，with a thin，intelligent face，a stubby gray moustache，and shrewd eyes covered by horn—rimmed spectacles.
"Good morning，Mr.Merrick，"said Joe，cheerily；"thisis Mr.Robert West，one of the Millville merchants，who is an old friend of our family.""I've heard of Mr.West，and I'm glad to meet him，"repliedUncle John，looking at the other calmly，but not offering to shake hands."I believe you are the president and treasurer of the Almaquo Timber Tract Company，are you not？"Joseph looked startled，and then embarrassed，as heoverheard the question.West，without altering his positionof careless ease，glanced over the rims of his glasses at the speaker.
"I am the humble individual you refer to，Mr.Merrick，"he said，brie？y.
"But the Almaquo timber all burned down."remarked Joe，thinking an explanation was needed.
"That's a mistake，"returned Mr.Merrick."My company has paid Mr.West，as treasurer of his company，more than ？fty thousand dollars during the last three years."West's jaw dropped.
