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The Search · The Tower Treasure

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  Chapter twenty two of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon. This LibriVox
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  recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty two the search, lunch,
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  motorcycles, everything else was forgotten. With a wild yell of delight, Frank
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  began to scurry down the embankment that flanked the right of way. At his
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  heels, ran Joe. They raced down the grassy slope until they came to
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  the wire fence. They scrambled over it, heedless of tearing their clothes,
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  they dashed up on to the cinder path beside the rails. What if we're
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  wrong, Frank panted, Joe. We can't be wrong. I just know
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  that's what Jackly meant, the old tower. It was the old water tower
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  he meant all along. He didn't have time to explain. The hardy boys
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  were tingling with excitement. It seemed that they could never reach the water tower.
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  They dashed along the cinder path with all the speed at their command,
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  but the tower still seemed a long distance away. If only we have stumbled
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  on the seeker after all, Joe, it'll clear, mister Robinson. We'll
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  get the reward. Da'll be proud of us. These thoughts gave them new
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  strength, and their hopes were high. As they neared the tower, the
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  structure reared gloomily from beside the tracks. At close quarters it was even more
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  decrepit, even more in a state of disrepair than they had imagined. The
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  old tower had been abandoned for some time in favor of the new tank.
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  Nearer the station, it sagged perilously. The ladder that led to the top
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  lacked so many rungs that at first the boys feared they would be unable to
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  ascend. If Jacklee got up this ladder, we can do the same,
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  said Frank, as he stopped panting at the bottom. Let's go. He
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  began to scramble up the flimsy ladder. Hardly had he ascended four rungs than
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  there came an alarming crack. Look out. Frank clung to the rung above
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  just as a rung snapped beneath his weight. He hung in mid air for
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  a moment, then drew up his feet and placed them on the next rung.
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  This proved firmer, and he was able to go on. Don't break
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  them all, called Joe. I want to be in on this. Frank
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  continued up the ladder. Occasionally, when he came to a place where a
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  rung had broken off, he was obliged to haul himself upward by main force.
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  But finally he neared the top. The ladder ran up along the side
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  of the tank and the very top of the great vat like receptacle, and
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  there it led to a trap door. The hardy boys did not look down.
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  They were high above the ground now, and the old water tower was
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  swaying alarmingly. They began to realize their peril, for the tower was old
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  and liable to topple over with them. But the thought did not serve to
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  restrain them, and at last Frank scrambled over the last rung and found himself
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  on the upper surface of the tower. He turned around and helped Joe over.
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  Far below them lay the countryside, the green fields laid out in neat
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  patterns, the roads in the distance like white ribbons, and the railway tracks
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  glistening in the sunlight. The wind seemed much stronger on top of the tower,
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  and it whistled about their ears. The flimsy structures swayed to and fro
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  with every movement they made. The trap door was closed. Frank went over
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  to it and tugged at it, but the timber was heavy, and Joe
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  was obliged to help him. Between the two, however, they managed to
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  raise it, revealing a dark gap that led into the recesses of the abandoned
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  water tower. The upper part of the tank was a space about four feet
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  in depth and separated from the lower or main portion, by a thick floor.
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  Frank lowered himself through the opening, and he was quickly followed by his
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  brother. They crouched down below the roof of the tank and peered about them
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  in the obscurity. It must be in here. There's no other place he
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  could have hidden the stuff, said Frank. Let's hunt for it. Then,
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  I wish we had brought our flashlights. Frank, however, had matches.
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  Cautiously he lit one. Then, crawling on his hands and knees,
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  he advanced into the darkness of the tower. In the faint glow of the
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  match, they saw that the place was half filled with rubbish. There was
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  a quantity of old lumber, miscellaneous bits of iron, battered tin pails,
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  crowbars, and other things piled up pell mell in all parts of the tower,
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  but there was no sign of the hidden lute. It must be here
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  somewhere, declared Joe doggedly. He wouldn't leave it out in the open.
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  Probably it's behind all this junk. Frank held the match. They had to
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  be careful, for the place was dry as tinder, and any negligence might
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  have made the whole place a mass of flame, from which there would have
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  been no escape in the glow. Then Joe searched frantically, casting the old
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  pails and the old bits of board and lumber aside with reckless abandon One entire
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  side of the tower top was searched without result. Then on the far side
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  they spied a number of boards piled up in a peculiar manner. They did
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  not look as though they had been flung there carelessly or accidentally, but rather
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  as though they had been placed to hide something like a terrier after a bone.
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  Joe made for it. Frantically. He tore away the boards. There,
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  in a neat little hiding place formed by the wood, lay a bag.
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  It was an ordinary gunny sack. But when Joe dragged it forth,
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  he knew at once that their search had ended. We found it, he
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  exulted, the tower treasure. This must be it, Joe dragged the gunny
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  sack out into the light beneath the trap door. They did not even wait
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  to go out on top of the water tower. Hurry, exclaimed Frank.
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  As with trembling fingers, Joe began to open the sack. It was tied
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  with a piece of twine, and Joe tugged at the stubborn knots. At
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  last, however, the twine fell away and the bag sagged open. Joe
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  plunged his hand into the recesses of the sack, and he first withdrew an
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  old fashioned bracelet of precious stones jewelry. How about the bonds? Again,
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  Joe groped into the sack. His fingers encountered a bulky packet. He withdrew
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  it, and the packet proved to be comprised of long, imposing looking documents,
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  held together by a rubber band on the surface of the outer document.
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  When they held it up to the light, they read the information that it
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  was a negotiable bond for five thousand dollars issued by the City of Bayport.
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  That settles it, said Frank, We've found the treasure. The boys looked
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  at one another in triumph. Jackally wasn't lying. After all, he did
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  the stuff in the old tower, and mister Robinson wasn't in league with him
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  and didn't find it after it was hidden. Ruminated Joe, we can clear
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  up the whole affair. Now let's start. Then, Frank exclaimed, no
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  use sitting here all day patting ourselves on the back. It's up to us
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  to get right back to Bayport and turn this treasure over to the applegates.
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  Hastily, he scrambled up through the trap, and Joe passed the bag of
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  treasure up to him. Frank put the sack carefully to one side, then
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  helped his brother up to the top of the tower. After that, he
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  tied the treasure sack to his belt in order that he might have the full
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  use of his two hands in descending the precarious ladder. They were so excited
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  by their momentous discovery, by the knowledge that all the days of fruitless search
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  had now ended, that they descended the ladder at breakneck speed. The last
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  two rungs of the ladder snapped under Frank's feet, and the boys were obliged
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  to undertake a drop of six feet in order to reach the ground, but
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  they hardly noticed it. Scarcely had they picked themselves up than they were off
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  on a run for their motorcycles, parked far back on the hillside. We've
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  shown em, eh, gasped Joe. I'll say we have. Oh boy,
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  won't the surprise everybody? Now? I'd like to see Dad tell us
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  we're not cut out to be detectives. Wait till Adelia Applegate sees all her
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  jewelry back again, she'll change her opinion of us. Wait till herd Applegate
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  sees his bonds back, and wait till Chief College and Detective Smuff here about
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  it. So the hardy boys gloated over their prospective return, but beneath it
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  all they were thinking of what this discovery meant to the Robinsons. They reached
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  the embankment, scrambled over the fence, and made their way up the slope
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  until at last they regained their motorcycles. Although they had only partly finished their
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  lunch, they were too excited to eat any more, so they stowed the
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  remainder away in the basket, lashed the bag of treasure securely to Frank's carrier,
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  and turned them motorcycles around. What a lucky chance for us that,
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  we decided to go down this road, declared Frank. If we had done
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  as we intended and circled around by Chutt's place, we would never have found
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  the stuff. And it's ten chances to one that neither of us would have
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  thought of that water tower until his dying day. The rest of their speculations
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  were drowned by the roar of the motorcycles as the Hardy Boys set out on
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  their return to Bayport with a tower treasure. End of Chapter twenty two.