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Updated: June 28, 2025
"I can only excuse your insults on the grounds of ignorance, or the fact that you have been misinformed. Here is the newspaper report of the Almaquo fire, which I showed my friends the night of Captain Wegg's sudden death." He took a clipping from a drawer of the desk and handed it to Uncle John, who read it carefully.
Merrick found the merchant seated at his desk in the otherwise deserted store, and, with a nod, helped himself to the only other chair the little office contained. "Sir," said he, "I am here to demand an explanation." "Of what?" asked West, coldly. "Of your action in the matter of the Almaquo Timber Tract Company. I believe that you falsely asserted to Captain Wegg and Mr.
"I have been an ass, West; but circumstances warranted me in suspecting you, and even Joseph Wegg did not know that the Almaquo stock had been transferred to you. He merely glanced at it at the time of his father's death, without noticing the endorsement, and thought the fire had rendered it worthless. But if you then owned the stock, why was it not in your possession?"
But Thompson was erratic in judgment, so Wegg used to bring their matters to me to decide upon. I always advised them as honestly as I was able. At the time I secured an option on the Almaquo tract, and wanted them to join me, Will Thompson had found another lot of timber, but located in an out-of-the-way corner, which he urged the Captain to join him in buying.
Both men were staring, open-mouthed and half-dazed, at West, who was explaining in a trembling voice that a terrible forest fire had swept through the Almaquo section and wiped out every tree upon the property. He had the full account in the newspaper, and had begun reading it, when my father uttered a low moan and tumbled off his chair to the floor.
West, without altering his position of careless ease, glanced over the rims of his glasses at the speaker. "I am the humble individual you refer to, Mr. Merrick," he said, briefly. "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.
"Why, forest fires at Almaquo, in Canada, burned down 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.
So he wired to his agent in New York the following words: "What part of the Almaquo timber tract burned in forest fire three years ago?" The answer he received made him give a satisfied grunt. "No forest fires near Almaquo three years ago. Almadona, seventy miles north, burned at that time, and newspaper reports confounded the names." "Very good!" exclaimed Uncle John. "I've got the rascal now."
I was angry at the time, because their withdrawal had driven me into a tight corner to protect my investment, and I told them they would bitterly regret their action. I think Wegg agreed with me, but Will Thompson was still stubborn. "Then came the news of the fire at Almaquo.
"As a matter of fact," continued West, "you are not cutting that portion of the Almaquo tract which this fire refers to, and which Thompson and Wegg were interested in, but the north half of the tract, which they had never acquired any title to." "I suppose the stock will show that," suggested Mr. Merrick. "Of course, sir." "I will look it up." West smiled.
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