“That settles it,” said Frank. “We’ve found the treasure.”
The boys looked at one another in triumph.
“Jackley wasn’t lying after all. He did hide the stuff in the old tower. And Mr. Robinson wasn’t in league with him and didn’t find it after it was hidden,” ruminated Joe. “We can clear up the whole affair now.”
“Let’s start, then!” Frank exclaimed. “No use sitting here all day patting ourselves on the back. It’s up to us to get right back to Bayport and turn this treasure over to the Applegates.”
Hastily, he scrambled up through the trap, and Joe passed the bag of treasure up to him. Frank put the sack carefully to one side, then helped his brother up to the top of the tower. After that he tied the treasure sack to his belt, in order that he might have the full use of his two hands in descending the precarious ladder.
They were so excited by their momentous discovery, by the knowledge that all the days of fruitless search had now ended, that they descended the ladder at breakneck speed. The last two rungs of the ladder snapped under Frank’s feet and the boys were obliged to undertake a drop of six feet in order to reach the ground, but they hardly noticed it. Scarcely had they picked themselves up than they were off on a run for their motorcycles, parked far back on the hillside.
“We’ve shown ’em, eh?” gasped Joe.
“I’ll say we have! Oh boy, won’t this surprise everybody?”
“Now I’d like to see Dad tell us we’re not cut out to be detectives!”
“Wait till Adelia Applegate sees all her jewelry back again. She’ll change her opinion of us.”
“Wait till Hurd Applegate sees his bonds back. And wait till Chief Collig and Detective Smuff hear about it!”
So the Hardy boys gloated over their prospective return, but beneath it all they were thinking of what this discovery meant to the Robinsons.
They reached the embankment, scrambled over the fence, and made their way up the slope until at last they regained their motorcycles. Although they had only partly finished their lunch, they were too excited to eat any more, so they stowed the remainder away in the basket, lashed the bag of treasure securely to Frank’s carrier, and turned the motorcycles around.
“What a lucky chance for us that we decided to go down this road!” declared Frank. “If we had done as we intended and circled around by Chet’s place we would never have found the stuff!”
“And it’s ten chances to one that neither of us would have thought of that water tower until his dying day.”
The rest of their speculations were drowned by the roar of the motorcycles as the Hardy boys set out on their return to Bayport with the Tower treasure.
XXIII
Adelia Applegate’s Compliment
The curtain rolled down on the mystery of the Tower treasure that afternoon in the library of the Applegate home.
The Hardy boys had gone directly to their father with the story of the recovery of the loot, and Fenton Hardy had lost no time in acquainting Hurd Applegate with the facts. Between them, they arranged a little surprise for Chief Collig and Detective Smuff, as well as for Henry Robinson. On the invitation of Hurd Applegate, the chief brought Mr. Robinson to Tower Mansion, “to be faced with additional evidence,” as Fenton Hardy suavely put it.
Chief Collig and Detective Smuff entered the library with their prisoner between them. They had confidently anticipated that Mr. Applegate had discovered some new facts that would further serve to tighten the web about the unfortunate caretaker, and when they came into the room there was nothing at first to eradicate this impression.
Hurd Applegate and Adelia Applegate sat by the huge library table, and with them were Mr. Hardy and his sons. Chief Collig did not at first notice the gunny sack lying on the table.
“Well, Mr. Applegate,” said the chief, fanning himself, as usual, with his hat. “I brought along Mr. Robinson, just as you asked.”
“Good. As I mentioned to you, there has been some new evidence in this case.”
“I knew something would turn up,” grunted Smuff.
“Not that any new evidence is needed, of course,” declared the chief. “We got this fellow dead to rights, as it is. He ain’t got a chance in the world. But still, it’s just as good to make a real strong case of it.”
“I’m afraid you don’t understand me,” went on Hurd Applegate. “This new evidence will clear Mr. Robinson. And when he is cleared, I want him back in my employ again.”
“Huh?” gasped Chief Collig.
“What’s that you say?” exclaimed Smuff.
“The stolen stuff has been found.”
“No!”
“Here it is,” put in Fenton Hardy, getting up and dumping the gunny sack upside down on the table. There was a tinkle and clatter as jewels came rolling out on the table, and then there was a rustle of paper as the packets of bonds followed.
“Where was it found?” asked the chief. “This doesn’t clear him. He probably hid it some place.”
“The stuff was found just where Jackley said he hid it. In the old tower.”
“But the old tower was searched high and low.”
“There is more than one ‘old tower,’ ” went on Mr. Hardy. “Only we didn’t happen to think of that at the time. It was found in the old water tower, down at the Junction, where Jackley used to work.”
Chief Collig was speechless with surprise. He gazed at Smuff, whose jaw had dropped in astonishment.
“Who found it?” asked Smuff at last.
“These two lads,” said Mr. Applegate, indicating the Hardy boys. “They found it this morning.”
“Them kids?” scoffed Chief Collig. “I don’t believe it.”
“Well, there’s the stuff to prove it,” snapped Fenton Hardy.
“I’ve got my jewelry back, thanks to them,” declared Adelia Applegate shrilly. “They were smarter than
