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The New Tower · The Tower Treasure

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  Chapter eighteen of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon. This LibriVox recording
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  is in the public domain. Chapter eighteen, the New Tower. They have
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  the audacity to want to go looking through the new Tower now, said miss
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  Applegate, in high indignation. Heard Applegate's smile vanished. You can't do anything
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  of the sort, he snapped, Are you boays trying to make a fool
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  out of me? I knew mighty well you wouldn't find anything in the old
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  Tower, and we were pretty sure we would, answered frank Listen, mister
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  Applegate. We'll be fair with you. We'll tell you exactly why we wanted
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  to make this search. Go ahead and tell me why didn't you tell me
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  before? Because we wanted to work this out ourselves as far as possible.
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  But the information we had came from the man who stole the jewels and the
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  bonds. What has he been caught? He was captured, but he will
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  never come to trial. Did he escape again? He escaped by death.
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  The thief is dead dead. What happened? Asked heard Applegate excitedly. His
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  name was Red Jackly and he was a notorious criminal. He was tracked down
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  by our father and when he tried to escape on a railroad hand car,
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  he got into a smash up and he was fatally injured. But before he
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  died, he admitted robbing Tower mansion. He admitted it, He confessed,
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  he confessed everything. I don't believe it, sniffed Adelia Applegate. Nothing will
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  ever convince me that it wasn't that Rascal Robinson jackally confessed the whole business.
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  Frank persisted, and on his deathbed he said that he hadn't been able to
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  get away with the loot, that he had hidden it where in the old
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  tower, and it isn't there. Joe and I have just searched the place
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  high and low. The stuff isn't there. And from the fact that there
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  are no footprints remarks of any kind in the dust, I don't think anyone
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  has been in the place for a long time. The old tower has been
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  closed for years, so we thought. Joe interjected that he might have been
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  mistaken and that he had really hidden the stuff in the new tower instead.
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  Heard Applegate rubbed his chin meditatively. His manner toward the boys had undergone a
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  change, and it was evident that he was impressed by their story. So
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  this fellow confessed to the robbery. Eh, he admitted everything. He was
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  a man who once worked around Bayport, and he knew this locality pretty well.
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  He had been hanging around the city for some days before the robbery.
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  Well, said Applegate slowly. If he says he hid the stuff in the
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  old tower and it isn't there, he must have meant the new tower just
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  as you say, will you let us search it, I'll do more than
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  that. I'll help you. I'm just as anxious to get the jewels and
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  bonds back as anybody. All nonsense, declared Adelia Applegate. It's all a
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  pack of falsehoods. I don't believe a word of it. Now. Now,
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  Adelia said her brother soothingly. These boys might be right, after all.
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  It won't hurt to take a look around at any rate, and much
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  you'll find, I'm sure, I I declare heard Applegate, You're just as
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  bad as those boys are. Maybe maybe, he answered, But I'm going
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  to help them search the new tower anyway. Don't ask me to brush the
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  dust off your clothes when you come back then, for that's all you'll get
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  dust, nothing more. The jewels and bonds are no more in the new
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  Tower than they are back in the safe right now. All right, Adelia,
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  perhaps you're right, but it won't hurt to make a search anyway.
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  Come on, boys. With that, Heard Applegate led the way down the
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  hall and opened the door leading to a corridor that extended toward the new tower.
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  Frank and Joe tingling with excitement, followed. Although the new tower had
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  been built just a few years back, and although its rooms had been furnished,
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  it had been seldom occupied, save on the rare occasions when the Applegates
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  had visitors from the city. The new caretaker employed to replace Robinson, was
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  a lazy and slovenly fellow who did not bother to extend his duties to the
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  tower. Knowing that the Applegates seldom went near that part of the mansion,
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  and realizing that any laxity in his duties in that respet would scarcely be discovered.
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  It came as a surprise to heard Applegate then to find out that the
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  new tower was dusty, that the windows had not been cleaned, and there
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  were cobwebs on the ceilings. In the first room, they found nothing,
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  although they rummaged about in all the corners, looked beneath the table behind the
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  chairs, looked everywhere. In fact, not until they were quite satisfied that
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  the loot had not been hidden there did they ascend the stairs to the next
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  room, And there again their search was fruitless. Heard Applegate, being a
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  quick tempered man, fell back into his old mood. The boy's story had
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  convinced him, and he had been even more certain than they that the stolen
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  bonds and jewels would indeed be found in the new tower. But when two
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  of the tower rooms had been thoroughly searched without success, his disappointment increased.
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  Don't believe there was anything in that yarn, after all, he muttered,
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  as they went up the stairs to the third room. I don't see why
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  he should lie about it. After he confessed, remarked frank thoughtfully. Dad
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  told us that he had admitted not being able to get away with the stuff.
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  Then where did he hide it? Demanded Applegate. If he wasn't lying,
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  the stuff must be around here someplace. Perhaps he hid it a little
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  more carefully than we imagine put in Joe, Haven't we hunted carefully enough?
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  Heard Applegate snapped. In the third room, their search was again in vain.
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  They even inspected the window ledges and tapped the floors and ceiling in the
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  faint hope of finding some secret cupboard that was unknown to them, But the
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  loot was not found. When at last they emerged through the trap door in
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  the roof out on top of the rear tower and found it to be bare
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  and empty. Applegate could not disguise his chagrin wild goose chase, he snorted.
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  Adelia was right, I've been made a fool of. You. Don't
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  think we would make up a story like that, do you, mister Applegate?
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  Frank asked, I don't see any reason why you should. But there's
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  something wrong somewhere. I've wasted half a morning poking around through this confounded tower
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  all for nothing, so have we. If that fellow did hide the stuff
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  and one of the towers, someone else must have come along and got it.
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  That's the only way I can figure it out. He had someone working
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  with him, or else Robinson found the stuff. That's more likely. Probably
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  Robinson found the loot right after the robbery and kept it for himself. I
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  don't think he would do that. He isn't that kind of man, Joe
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  objected, With all that money in front of him, I wouldn't put it
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  past him for a minute. Where did he get that nine hundred dollars?
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  Then explain that he can't he won't tell. As they descended the stairs and
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  went back into the main part of the mansion, heard Applegate elaborated on his
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  theory. The fact that the lute had not been found in the face of
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  red Jackalie's story seemed to strengthen his conviction that Robinson had something to do with
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  the affair. Either Robinson found the stuff and kept it, or else he
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  was in league with Jacklie, said Applegate. He's mixed up in it some
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  way, I'm sure of that. The boys could say nothing. They realized
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  that the theory was probable, although in their hearts they found it hard to
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  believe that their chum's father could have had anything to do with the theft.
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  They were deeply puzzled and tremendously disappointed, for they had been practically certain that
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  the loot would be found. Now they saw that the only consequence of the
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  whole affair was to involve mister Robinson more deeply than ever in the mystery.
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  Back in the hallway, they endured the taunts of Adelia Applegate, who cackled
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  jubilantly when she saw that the searching party had returned empty handed. There now,
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  she crowed, who's right now? Didn't I tell you it was all
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  nonsense? Heard Applegate? You've simply been made a fool of by these two
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  boys. Now, Adelia, I think they meant well, meant well.
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  Of course they meant well. And what did it gain you? They have
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  prowled through the place all morning, and all the good that's come of it
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  is that perhaps you won't be so ready to believe the next cock and bull
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  story someone tells you. Go back to your stamps, heard Applegate, and
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  let it be a lesson to you. As for you boys, you should
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  be ashamed of yourselves disturbing folks like this. Whereupon she escorted the hardy boys
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  to the door, while heard Applegate, muttering sadly, went back to his
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  study with a puzzled air. End of Chapter eighteen.