"That detective is loco," laughed Kit, using a term from her beloved mountains.
"What does loco mean, Kit?" asked Joy.
"It means he's crazy! The horses get crazy in the mountains from eating a weed by that name. That's the way with Mr. Longworth; he's been eating loco weed."
"I'll say he has," Joy agreed merrily.
When the girls separated for the night they had made their plans to start the next day at eleven o'clock for a hike. That would give them plenty of time to hear anything that the detective might find out.
That evening Bet received a message from Mrs. Gordon. During the talk she told Bet that Phil was worrying himself sick over the theft of the fan.
"I know Phil wouldn't do it, Bet," his mother exclaimed.
"Of course he wouldn't. We girls have never blamed him, not even for a second. It's that silly detective! Don't worry about it. We'll find it, somehow!"
Bob Evans had gone away the day after the party and when he came back and heard the accusation against Phil, he was ready to fight.
"The very first person I met when I got off the train told me that Phil had stolen the fan belong to Colonel Baxter," he told Joy.