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Rh anything and he never lets me into the workroom."

That was the sum and substance of Lester's knowledge of the activities of his Uncle Dock and his two associates. The boy did not seem to object to being questioned; it was plain that he was so lonesome that he welcomed the opportunity of talking to some one. And the more the Hardy boys interrogated him the more convinced they were that their suspicions of Uncle Dock and the other two men were not unfounded.

"Doesn't he make you do any work?" asked Frank.

"I have to chop wood once in a while, and bring water up from the spring. But there's not much to do. It's pretty dull here. I wish there was more work for me to do. But mostly I just fish and swim and hang around."

"Doesn't he let you help him in the mill?"

"No. I've offered to help, but none of them will let me come into the workroom."

"Workroom? Don't they use the whole mill?"

"Only the stone room where the new machinery is."

"And the old machinery isn't being used at all?"

"No."