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The Search of the Tower · The Tower Treasure

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  Chapter seventeen of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon. This LibriVox recording
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  is in the public domain. Chapter seventeen, The Search of the Tower.
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  When the Hardy boys reached Tower Mansion that morning, the door was answered by
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  heard applegate himself. The tall, stooped gentleman peered at them through his thick
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  lensed glasses. In one hand he held a sheet of stamps, for it
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  was his custom to devote the mornings to his collection. Yes, he said
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  testily, for he was annoyed at being disturbed. What do you boys want
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  at this hour? Day? You remember us, don't you? Asked Frank
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  politely. Were mister Hardy's sons, Fenton Hardy the detective? Are you his
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  boys? Yes, sir, well, what do you want? We'd like
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  to take a look through the old tower, if you don't mind. We've
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  got a new clue about the robbery you had here a while ago. Want
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  to look through the old tower? Of all the impudence, what do you
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  want to look through the tower for? And what has that got to do
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  with the robbery. We have evidence that leads us to believe the jewels and
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  bonds were hidden in the tower by the thief. Oh you have evidence,
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  have you? The old man peered at them very closely. It's that rascal
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  Robinson. I'll warrant he hid the stuff there, and now he's put you
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  up to going and finding it, just to clear himself. The hardy voice
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  had not considered the affair in this light, and they gazed at mister Applegate
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  in consternation. At last, Joe found his tongue. Mister Robinson isn't mixed
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  up in this at all, he said. The real thief was found.
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  He said, the stuff was hidden in the old tower. If you will
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  just let us look around, we'll find it for you. Who was the
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  real thief? Then we can't tell you just now, sir, Wait till
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  we find the stolen goods, and we'll tell you the whole story. Mister
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  Applegate took off his glasses and wiped them with his handkerchief. He glared at
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  the boy suspiciously for a few moments. Then he called out, Adelia high
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  cracked. A voice from the dim regions of the hallways answered, what do
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  you want? Come here a minute. There was a rustle of skirts,
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  and then Adelia Applegate, maiden sister of the owner of tower, mansion appeared.
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  She was a faded blond woman of thin features, and she was dressed
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  in a gown of a fashion fifteen years back in which every color of the
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  spectrum fought for supremacy. What's the matter now, she demanded? Can't a
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  body sit down to do a bit of sewing without you hollering at them?
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  These boys want to look through the old tower? What for up to some
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  mischief? I'll be bound. They think they can find the bonds and jewels?
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  Oh they do do, they sniffed the woman. And what would the
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  bonds and jewels be doin in the old tower? We have evidence that they
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  were hidden there after the robbery, replied Frank. Miss Applegate sniffed again and
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  viewed the boys with Frank's suspicion, as if any thief would be fool enough
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  to hide them right in the house he robbed. These are mister Hardy's boys,
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  explained heard Applegate. He is the big detective. You know, all
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  detectives, said Miss Applegate, are a nosy, always prying into other people's
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  affairs. We're just trying to help you put in Joe politely. Go ahead,
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  then go ahead, said Miss Applegate, with a sigh, come around
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  at this hour of morning, disturbing. Honest folks, go ahead and tear
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  the old tower to pieces if you like, but I'll be bound. You
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  won't find anything. It's all foolishness. You won't find anything. Consent having
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  been given herd Applegate led the way through the gloomy halls and corridors of the
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  mansion toward the old tower. He was inclined to share his sister's view that
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  the boy's search would be in vain. Might as well save yourselves the trouble,
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  he declared. You won't find anything in the old tower. If anything
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  was hidden there, it's been taken away by this time. We'll make a
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  try at it anyway, mister Applegate, don't ask me to help you.
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  I've got better things to do. Just got some new stamps in this morning,
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  and you interrupted me when I was sorting them out. I've got to
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  get back to my work. The man led the way into a corridor that
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  was heavy with dust. It had not been in use for a long time,
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  and it was bare and unfurnished. Leading off this corridor was a heavy
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  door. It was unlocked, and when mister Applegate opened it, the boys
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  saw that a flight of stairs lay beyond there you are. Those stairs lead
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  up into the tower. Search away. You won't find anything. I hope
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  we do, mister Applegate, said Frank, And I'm pretty sure we shall.
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  Yes, boys are always going to do wonders. Go ahead, live
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  and learn, waste your time. And with this parting shot heard Applegate turned
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  and hobbled back along the corridor, the sheet of stamps still in his gnarled
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  hand. He was muttering to himself as he departed. The hardy boys looked
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  at one another. Not very encouraging, is he Frank, Not a bit
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  of it. But it will be so much the better for us if we
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  get the stuff back for him. He won't think we were wasting our time.
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  Then let's get up to the tower. I'm anxious to start. The
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  tower was about five stories in height, as compared with the rest of the
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  mansion, which had but three stories. The lower floor was empty, the
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  floors and walls were heavy with dust. Frank and Joe first examined the stairs
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  carefully for footprints, but there were none to be seen. That seems queer,
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  remarked Frank. If Jackly had been in here within the past month,
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  you'd think his footprints would still show by the appearance of this dust. There
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  hasn't been anyone in the tower for at least a year. Perhaps the dust
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  collects more quickly than we think. It may have covered his footprints over even
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  within a couple of weeks. An inspection of the ground floor revealed the fact
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  that there was no place where the luke could have been hidden save under the
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  stairs, and there was nothing in that place of concealment. Accordingly, the
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  hardy boys ascended to the next floor, finding themselves in a room as drab
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  and bear as the one they had just left. Here again, the dust
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  lay heavy, and the murky windows were thick with cobwebs. There was an
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  atmosphere of age and decay about the entire place. It seemed to have been
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  abandoned for years. Nothing here, said Frank. After a quick glance around,
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  on we go, they made their way up to the next floor,
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  after again poking about under the stairs, but again without success. The next
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  room was a duplicate of the first. It was bare and cheerless, deep
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  in dust. There was not the slightest sign of a hiding place, much
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  less was there any indication that another human being had been in the tower for
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  years. Doesn't look very promising, Joe. Still, he may have gone
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  right to the top of the tower. So the search continued until at last
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  the hardy boys had reached to the top of the tower. Here they emerged
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  into the open air, coming through a trap door that led through the roof
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  from the upper room. They were now standing on a platform, and far
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  below them lay the city of Bayport. To the east was Barmet Bay,
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  the waters sparkling in the sun. The platform was quite bare, the stone
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  walls gave no opportunity of a hiding place. Their search had been in vain.
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  We were fooled, I guess, Frank admitted, there hasn't been any
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  one in this tower for years. I knew it as soon as I saw
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  there were no footprints. The boys gazed moodily down over the city, and
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  then down over the grounds of tower mansion. The roofs of the mansion itself
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  were far below, and directly across from them rose the heavy bulk of the
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  new tower. Do you think he might have meant the new tower, exclaimed
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  Joe. Suddenly, Dad said he specified the old one, but he may
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  have been mistaken. And the darkness and everything. Perhaps he didn't know the
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  difference. That's possible too. It's certain that he didn't hide anything in this
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  tower at any rate, although why he should say the old tower. Let's
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  ask mister Applegate, if we can search the new tower too, What a
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  fine chance we have. He'll crow over us now in real earnest. When
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  we go back and tell him we didn't find anything, he'll say, I
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  told you so. And if we try to get into the new tower,
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  he'll just laugh at us. It's worth trying anyway. We can tell them
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  the whole story about Jackly that ought to convince him. Disappointed, the hardy
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  boys descended through the trap door and then made their way down through the tower,
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  until at last they were in the long, gloomy hallway again. Their
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  clothes were covered with dust, and their hands and faces were grimy. Slowly
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  they trudged back into the main part of the mansion again, and there they
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  met Adaily Applegate, who popped out of a doorway as they were passing and
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  cackled with delight. So these are the fine boys. We're going to find
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  the stolen stuff for us, eh, she exclaimed in her cracked voice.
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  So these are the boys who were so sure it was hidden in the old
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  tower. Well, well, and they didn't find anything after all. I'm
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  afraid we didn't, Miss Applegate, Frank answered with a smile. But if
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  you and mister Applegate will let us tell our story, I think we can
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  convince you that we really thought the stuff was hidden there. Even yet,
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  I believe it is hidden somewhere in the mansion, probably in the new tower.
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  In the new tower, she sniffed, absurd. I suppose you'll want
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  to go poking through there now, if it wouldn't be too much trouble.
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  It would be too much trouble. Indeed, she shrilled, I shan't have
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  any boys rummaging all through my house on a wild goose chase like this.
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  You'd better leave right away and forget all this nonsense. Her voice had attracted
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  the attention of Hurd Applegate, who came hobbling out of his study at that
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  moment. Now what's the matter, he demanded, Then, seeing the boys,
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  his face became creased in a triumphant smile. Aha, so you didn't
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  find anything after all? Ha ha hah, he began to chuckle, immensely
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  pleased with himself. I told you so, end of Chapter seventeen