door, he'll say no.'
The brothers went down through the opening. They lifted the door into place,
latched it, and then wedged Frank's small pocket notebook into the damaged
side. The door held, but Frank and Joe knew that wind or rain would easily
dislodge it.
The boys hurried down the steps and through the corridor to the main part of
the house.
Adelia Applegate popped her head out of a doorway. 'Where's the loot?' she
asked.
'We didn't find any,' Frank admitted.
The woman sniffed. 'I told you so! Such a waste of time!'
'We think now,' Joe spoke up, 'that the stolen property is probably hidden
in the new tower.'
'In the new tower!' Miss Applegate cried out. '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 boys
rummaging through my house on a wild-goose chase like this. You'd better
leave at once, and forget all this nonsense.'
Her voice had attracted the attention of Hurd Applegate, who came hobbling
out of his study.
'Now what's the matter?' he demanded. His sister told him and suddenly his
face creased in a triumphant smile. 'Aha! So you didn't find anything after
all! You thought you'd clear Robinson, but you haven't done it.'
'Not yet,' Frank answered.
'These boys have the audacity,' Miss Applegate broke in, 'to want to go
looking through the new tower.'
Hurd Applegate stared at the boys. 'Well, they can't do it!' he snapped. 'Are
you boys trying to make a fool of me?' he asked, shaking a fist at them.
Frank and Joe exchanged glances and nodded at each other. They would
have to reveal their reason for thinking the loot was in the new tower.
'Mr. Applegate,' Frank began, 'the information about where your stolen
stuff is hidden came from the man who took the jewels and the bonds. And it
wasn't Mr. Robinson.'
'What! You mean it was someone else? Has he been caught?'
'He was captured but he's dead now.'
'Dead? What happened?' Hurd Applegate asked in excitement.
'His name was Red Jackley and he was a notorious criminal. Dad got on his
trail and Jackley tried to escape on a railroad handcar. It smashed up and he
was fatally injured,' Frank explained.
'Where did you get your information then?' Mr. Applegate asked.
Frank told the whole story, ending with, 'We thought Jackley might have
made a mistake and that it's the new tower where he hid the loot.'
Hurd Applegate rubbed his chin meditatively. It was evident that he was
impressed by the boys' story.
'So this fellow Jackley confessed to the robbery, eh?'
'He admitted everything. He had once worked around here and knew the
Bayport area well. He had been hanging around the city for several days
before the robbery.'
'Well,' Applegate said slowly, 'if he said he hid the stuff in the old tower
and it's not there, it must be in the new tower, as you say.'
'Will you let us search it?' Joe asked eagerly.
'Yes, and I'll help. I'm just as eager to find the jewels and bonds as you are.
Come on, boys!'
Hurd Applegate led the way across the mansion toward a door which opened
into the new tower. Now that the man was in a good mood, Frank decided
that this was an opportune time to tell him about the trap door. He did so,
offering to pay for the repair.
'Oh, that's all right,' said Mr. Applegate. 'I'll have it fixed. In fact,
Robinson-Oh, I forgot. I'll get a carpenter.'
He said no more, but quickened his steps. Frank and Joe grinned. Old Mr.
Applegate had not even reprimanded them!
The mansion owner opened the door to the new tower and stepped into a
corridor. Frank and Joe, tingling with excitement, followed.
CHAPTER XVI
A Surprise
THE rooms in the new tower had been furnished when it was built. But only
on rare occasions when the Applegates had visitors were the rooms occupied,
the owner stated.
In the first one Frank, Joe, and Mr. Applegate found nothing, although they
looked carefully in closets, bureaus, highboys, and under the large pieces of
furniture. They even turned up mattresses and rugs. When they were satisfied
that the loot had not been hidden there, they ascended the stairs to the room
above. Again their investigation proved fruitless.
Hurd Applegate, being a quick-tempered man, fell back into his old mood.
The boys' story had convinced him, but when they had searched the rooms in
the tower without success, he showed his disgust.
'It's a hoax!' he snorted. 'Adelia was right. I've been made a fool of! And all
because of Robinson!'
'I can't understand it!' Joe burst out. 'Jackley said he hid the stuff in the
tower.'
'If that fellow did hide the jewels and bonds in one of the towers,' Applegate
surmised, 'someone else must have come in and taken them-maybe someone
working with him. Or else Robinson found the loot right after the robbery
and kept it for himself.'
'I'm sure Mr. Robinson wouldn't do that,' Joe objected.
'Then where did he get the nine hundred dollars? Explain that. Robinson
won't!'
On the way back to the main part of the mansion, Hurd Applegate elaborated
on his theory. The fact that the loot had not been found seemed to convince
him all over again that Robinson was involved in some way.
'Like as not he was in league with Jackley!' the man stated flatly.
Again Frank and Joe protested that the ex-caretaker did not hobnob with
criminals. Nevertheless, the Hardys were puzzled, disappointed, and alarmed.
Their search had only resulted in implicating Mr. Robinson more deeply in
the mystery.
Back in the hallway of the main house they met Adelia Applegate, who
