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A New Idea · The Tower Treasure

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  Chapter twenty one of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon. This LibriVox
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  recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty one a New Idea. A
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  week passed and still the loot was not recovered. Mister Robinson had been held
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  for trial at an early court session. The general opinion in Bayport was that
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  he would be sentenced to imprisonment. The fact that he still refused to tell
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  where he had got the nine hundred dollars so near the time of the robbery
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  weighed heavily against him. Fenton Hardy was downcast. It was the first case
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  of its kind that he had been unsuccessful in solving completely. And although he
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  was satisfied that he had done good work in tracking down Red Jackly and getting
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  the confession, the result had scarcely been worth the effort. Chief Colleague and
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  Detective Smuff were complacent. They made no effort to conceal their critical opinions of
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  the great detective who had taken so much time trying to solve the mystery when
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  the real thief was right under his nose all the time. I told you
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  so. Was the burden of Chief Colleague's sign of triumph. I knew all
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  the time that Robinson was the man. I arrested him right after the robbery,
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  but they all said it couldn't be him, so I let him go.
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  But I knew all the time it couldn't be anyone else, ain't that?
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  So Smuff and the loyal Smuff would dutifully chime in with, yes,
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  Chief, we have to hand it to you. You had the right man
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  all the time. I guess these professional detectives won't think they're so smart after
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  all, A Smuff, No, you bet they won't. We can still
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  teach him a thing or two. I'll say we can, Smuff, I'll
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  say we can. These stories, naturally enough, reached the ears of Fenton
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  Hardy and the Hardy Boys, and they felt keenly the arrogant superiority displayed by
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  the Bayport police officials. But they said nothing, suffering their defeat in silence.
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  On the following Saturday, Frank and Joe decided to take an outing.
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  I want to get out of this city for a few hours, said Frank.
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  We've been so busy worrying about the Tower mansion case that we've forgotten how
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  to play. Let's take the motorbikes and go out for a run good idea,
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  his brother replied, Mother will make us up some lunch. Missus Hardy,
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  who was in the kitchen with the cook, smiled when they made known
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  their request. Fair haired and gentle, she had been tolerantly amused by her
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  son's activities in the tower affair, but she was glad to see them return
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  to their boyish ways. You'll be getting two grown up all together, she
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  had said to them a few days previously, And now when they said they
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  were going on a day's outing with the motorcycles, she hastened to prepare a
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  substantial lunch for them. We'll be back in time for supper. Mother,
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  Frank promised, We're just going to follow the highway along the railroad. After
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  that we may cut across the country to Chet's place and then home. Take
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  care of yourself, she warned. No speeding. We'll be careful, they
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  promised, as Joe stowed the lunch basket in the carrier of his machine.
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  Then, with a sputtering roar, the motorcycles sped out along the driveway,
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  and soon the boys were on the concrete highway leading out of the city.
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  In a short time they had reached the outskirts of Bayport, and then they
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  turned west onto the state highway that ran parallel to the railway tracks. It
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  was a bright, sunny spring morning, and the highway was not congested with
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  traffic. Freight trains shunted back and forth on the railway tracks below the embankment,
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  and now and then a passenger train steamed by, trailing a cloud of
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  black smoke. Like most boys, Frank and Joe could not help but feel
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  the fascination of the railway, although they admitted that they preferred the comparative freedom
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  of their own motorcycles, which were not bound to follow the steel rails and
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  did not have to obey the beck and call of dispatchers. Out on the
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  open country, they put on a little more speed. The highway was like
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  a city pavement beneath them, and the cool breeze stung the color into their
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  cheeks. For more than two hours they rode, passing through the villages and
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  small towns, until at last they came to a point where another railway intersected
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  the line they had been following. Here a road also ran parallel to the
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  tracks, branching off the main highway. Always on the alert for new country
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  to explore, the hardy boys decided to follow this side road. It's off
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  the main stream of traffic, said Frank, and the country seems to be
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  wooded. Farther on, we can have lunch in the shade of some trees.
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  This appeared to be an advantage, for there were no trees along the
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  state road, and the constant stream of vehicles made a road side lunch something
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  of a public affair. Accordingly, the boys turned their motorcycles down the side
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  road, which, although it was not paved, was well graded and led
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  through a quieter countryside. What railroad is this anyway, asked Frank, as
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  they sped along the Bayport and Coast line. It's mostly freight, the Bayport
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  and Coast. Why that's the railway that READJ Jackie used to work for.
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  Don't you remember Dad telling us that his first crime was stealing freight from the
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  road, so he did. I'd forgotten all about it. The boys looked
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  down at the tracks below the embankment with renewed interest. By virtue of the
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  railway's association with the notorious criminal. Mention of Jackie's name revived recollections of the
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  Tower Mansion case, and when the boys finally decided to stop in the shade
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  of a little grove of trees beside the road for lunch. They reviewed every
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  incident of the mysterious affair. It would have been better for everyone if Jackie
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  had stayed with the railway, Frank observed as he bit into a thick roast
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  beef sandwich. He sure caused a lot of trouble before he died, and
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  he caused it even more sense, by the looks of things, the Robinsons
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  will remember his name for a long time to come. I wonder if mister
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  Robinson really was in league with him, Frank, I don't think so,
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  and I don't believe mister Robinson ever found that treasure after the robbery either.
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  There is some explanation to this whole affair that none has been able to fathom.
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  If I remember rightly, it was in this part of the country that
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  Jackie worked. That's what Dad told us. He said. It was along
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  the right of way near the state road. Jacklee was a section hand or
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  sigma men or something. Both boys gazed down the two lines of railway tracks
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  that gleamed in the sun far into the distance. The glittering bands of steel
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  extended, vanishing into a common perspective. The land along the right of way
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  was thickly wooded. It was an attractive part of the country, and here
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  and there the wooded spaces were broken by green fields and meadows. The boys
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  were at the top of a slope, and they had a view of a
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  wide expanse of country below them. In the far distance, along the tracks,
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  they could see a little red railway station, and back of that the
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  roofs and spires of a village. Still they could see the spindly legs and
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  squat bulk of a water tank painted a bright scarlet. This water tank was
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  not far from the railway station, but half a mile down the track,
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  and only a few hundred yards from the place where the hardy boys were seated,
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  rose the bulk of another water station. But this tower, one of
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  the old style, built before the modern tanks came into use, was not
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  freshly painted. It had been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
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  Some of the rungs were missing from the ladder that led up the side,
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  and the tower itself had a forlorn and weather beaten aspect, as though it
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  had been deserted. This indeed was the case. The new tower tank closer
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  to the station had been erected to replace it, and although the old structure
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  had not been torn down, it was not now used. Frank took a
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  huge bite out of his sandwich and began to munch it thoughtfully. The sight
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  of the two water stations had given him an idea, but at first it
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  seemed to him to be too absurd for consideration. He was wondering whether he
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  should mention it to his brother. Then he noticed that Joe, too was
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  gazing thoughtfully down the railway tracks. Joe raised a sandwich to his lips,
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  absently, assayed a bite, and missed the sandwich altogether. Still, he
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  continued gazing at the two water towers. Finally, Joe turned and looked at
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  his brother, and the eyes of both was the light of a great discovery.
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  They knew that they were both thinking of the same thing. Two water
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  towers, said Frank slowly, an old one and a new one. And
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  Jackie said, he hid the stuff in the old tower. He was a
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  railway man. Why not, shouted Joe, springing to his feet. Why
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  couldn't it have been the old water tower he used to work around here?
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  He didn't say the old tower of tower mansion. After all, he just
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  said the old tower. Frank, I believe we've stumbled on the clue.
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  It would be the natural thing for him to come to his old haunts after
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  the robbery, and if he found he couldn't get away with the stuff,
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  he would hide it somewhere he knew, the old water Tower. Why didn't
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  we think of it before, Joe? Why that must be the place?
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  End of chapter twenty one.