CHAPTER XVII
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."