THE SEARCH OF THE TOWER
When the Hardy boys reached Tower Mansion that morning the door was
answered by Hurd Applegate himself. The tall, stooped gentleman peered
at them through his thick-lensed glasses. In one hand he held a
sheet of stamps, for it was his custom to devote the mornings to his
collection.
"Yes?" he said testily, for he was annoyed at being disturbed. "What do
you boys want here at this hour of day?"
"You remember us, don't you?" asked Frank politely. "We're Mr. Hardy's
sons."
"Fenton Hardy, the detective? Are you his boys?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, what do you want?"
"We'd like to take a look through the old tower, if you don't mind.
We've got a new clue about the robbery you had here a while ago."
"Want to look through the old tower? Of all the impudence! What do you
want to look through the tower for? And what has that got to do with
the robbery?"
"We have evidence that leads us to believe the jewels and bonds were
hidden in the tower by the thief."
"Oh! You have evidence, have you?" The old man peered at them very
closely. "It's that rascal Robinson, I'll warrant. He hid the stuff
there, and now he's put you up to going and finding it, just to clear
himself."
The Hardy boys had not considered the affair in this light, and they
gazed at Mr. Applegate in consternation. At last Joe found his tongue.
"Mr. Robinson isn't mixed up in this at all," he said. "The real thief
was found. He said the stuff was hidden in the old tower. If you will
just let us take a look around, we'll find it for you."
"Who was the real thief, then?"
"We can't tell you just now, sir. Wait till we find the stolen goods
and we'll tell you the whole story."
Mr. Applegate took off his glasses and wiped them with his
handkerchief. He glared at the boys suspiciously for a few moments.
Then he called out:
"Adelia!"
A high cracked voice from the dim regions of the hallway answered.
"What d'you want?"
"Come here a minute."
There was a rustle of skirts, and then Adelia Applegate, maiden sister
of the owner of Tower Mansion, appeared. She was a faded blonde woman,
of thin features, and she was dressed in a gown of a fashion fifteen
years back, in which every color of the spectrum fought for supremacy.
"What's the matter now?" she demanded. "Can't a body sit down to do a
bit of sewin' without you hollerin' at them?"
"These boys want to look through the old tower."
"What for? Up to some mischief, I'll be bound."
"They think they can find the bonds and jewels."
"Oh, they do, do they?" sniffed the woman. "And what would the bonds
and jewels be doin' in the old tower?"
"We have evidence that they were hidden there after the robbery,"
replied Frank.
Miss Applegate sniffed again and viewed the boys with frank suspicion.
"As if any thief would be fool enough to hide them right in the house
he robbed!"
"These are Mr. Hardy's boys," explained Hurd Applegate. "He is the big
detective, you know."
"All detectives," said Miss Applegate, "are nosey. Always pryin' into
other people's affairs."
"We're just trying to help you," put in Joe politely.
"Go ahead, then. Go ahead," said Miss Applegate, with a sigh. "Come
around at this hour of morning, disturbing honest folks. Go ahead, and
tear the old tower to pieces if you like. But I'll be bound you won't
find anything. It's all foolishness. You won't find anything."
Consent having been given, Hurd Applegate led the way through the
gloomy halls and corridors of the mansion toward the old tower. He was
inclined to share his sister's view that the boys' search would be in
vain.
"Might as well save yourselves the trouble," he declared. "You won't
find anything in the old tower. If anything was hidden there it's been
taken away by this time."
"We'll make a try at it, anyway, Mr. Applegate."
"Don't ask me to help you. I've got better things to do. Just got some
new stamps in this morning and you interrupted me when I was sortin'
them out. I've got to get back to my work."
The man led the way into a corridor that was heavy with dust. It had
not been in use for a long time and it was bare and unfurnished.
Leading off this corridor was a heavy door. It was unlocked, and when
Mr. Applegate opened it the boys saw that a flight of stairs lay beyond.
"There you are. Those stairs lead up into the tower. Search away. You
won't find anything."
"I hope we do, Mr. Applegate," said Frank. "And I'm pretty sure we
shall."
"Yes--boys are always goin' to do wonders. Go ahead. Live and learn.
Waste your time."
And with this parting shot, Hurd Applegate turned and hobbled back
along the corridor, the sheet of stamps still in his gnarled hand. He
was muttering to himself as he departed. The Hardy boys looked at one
another.
"Not very encouraging, is he, Frank?"
"Not a bit of it. But it will be so much the better for us if we get
the stuff back for him. He won't think we were wasting our time then."
"Let's get up into the tower. I'm anxious to start."
The tower was about five stories in height, as compared with the rest
of the mansion, which had but three stories. The lower floor was empty.
The floors and walls were heavy with dust. Frank and Joe first examined
the stairs carefully for footprints, but there were none to be seen.
"That seems queer," remarked Frank. "If Jackley had been in here within
the past month you'd think his footprints would still show. By the
appearance of this dust, there hasn't been any one in the tower for at
least a year."
"Perhaps the dust collects more quickly than we think. It may have
covered his footprints over even within a couple of weeks."
An inspection of the ground floor revealed the fact that there was no
place where the loot could have been hidden, save under the stairs,
and there was nothing in that place of concealment. Accordingly, the
Hardy boys ascended to the next floor, finding themselves in a room
as drab and bare as the one they had just left. Here again the dust
lay heavy and the murky windows were thick with cobwebs. There was an
atmosphere of age and decay about the entire place. It seemed to have
been abandoned for years.
"Nothing here," said Frank, after a quick glance around. "On we go."
They made their way up to the next floor, after again poking about
under the stairs, but again without success.
The next room was a duplicate of the first. It was bare and cheerless,
deep in dust. There was not the slightest sign of a hiding place. Much
less was there any indication that another human being had been in the
tower for years.
"Doesn't look very promising, Joe. Still, he may have gone right to the
top of the tower."
So the search continued, until at last the Hardy boys had reached the
top of the tower. Here they emerged into the open air, coming through a
trapdoor that led through the roof from the upper room. They were now
standing on a platform, and far below them lay the city of Bayport. To
the east was Barmet Bay, the waters sparkling in the sun.
The platform was quite bare. The stone walls gave no opportunity of a
hiding place. Their search had been in vain.
"We were fooled, I guess," Frank admitted. "There hasn't been any one
in this tower for years. I knew it as soon as I saw there were no
footprints."
The boys gazed moodily down over the city, and then down over the
grounds of Tower Mansion. The roofs of the mansion itself were far
below, and directly across from them rose the heavy bulk of the new
tower.
"Do you think he might have meant the _new_ tower?" exclaimed Joe
suddenly.
"Dad said he specified the old one."
"But he may have been mistaken. In the darkness and everything, perhaps
he didn't know the difference."
"That's possible, too. It's certain that he didn't hide anything in
this tower, at any rate. Although why he should say 'the old tower'--"
"Let's ask Mr. Applegate if we can search the new tower, too."
"What a fine chance we have! He'll crow over us now in real earnest
when we go back and tell him we didn't find anything. He'll say 'I told
you so', and if we try to get into the new tower he'll just laugh at
us."
"It's worth trying, anyway. We can tell him the whole story about
Jackley. That ought to convince him."
Disappointed, the Hardy boys descended through the trapdoor, and then
made their way down through the tower until at last they were in the
long gloomy hallway again. Their clothes were covered with dust and
their hands and faces were grimy. Slowly, they trudged back into the
main part of the mansion again, and there they met Adelia Applegate,
who popped out of a doorway as they were passing and cackled with
delight.
"So these are the fine boys who were going to find the stolen stuff for
us, eh!" she exclaimed, in her cracked voice. "So these are the boys
who were so sure it was hidden in the old tower! Well, well! And they
didn't find anything after all!"
"I'm afraid we didn't, Miss Applegate," Frank answered, with a smile.
"But if you and Mr. Applegate will let us tell our story I think we can
convince you that we really thought the stuff was hidden there. Even
yet I believe it is hidden somewhere in the mansion--probably in the
new tower."
"In the new tower!" she sniffed. "Absurd! I suppose you'll want to go
poking through there now."
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"It _would_ be too much trouble, indeed!" she shrilled. "I shan't
have any boys rummaging all through _my_ house on a wild-goose
chase like this. You'd better leave right away, and forget all this
nonsense."
Her voice had attracted the attention of Hurd Applegate, who came
hobbling out of his study at that moment.
"Now what's the matter?" he demanded. Then, seeing the boys, his face
became creased in a triumphant smile.
"Ah, ha! So you didn't find anything after all! Heh! Heh!" he began to
chuckle, immensely pleased with himself. "I told you so."