“No.”
“If the loot’s hidden in the old Applegate tower, we’ll find it in no time!” Frank exclaimed.
“Tower Mansion has two towers-the old and the new,” Joe reminded him.
“We’ll search the old tower first.”
“The story seems likely enough,” Mr. Hardy remarked. “Jackley would gain nothing by lying about it on his deathbed. He probably became panicky after he committed the robbery and hid in the old tower until he was able to get away safely. No doubt he decided to hide the stuff there and take a chance on coming back for it some time after the affair had blown over.”
Joe nodded. “That was why Jackley couldn’t be traced through the jewels and the bonds. They were never disposed of-they’ve been lying in the old tower all this time!”
“I tried to get him to tell me in just what part of the tower the loot was hidden,” Mr. Hardy continued, “but he died before he could say any more.”
“Too bad,” said Frank. “But it shouldn’t be hard to find the loot, now that we have a general idea where it is. Probably Jackley didn’t hide it very carefully. Since the old tower has been unoccupied for a long time, the stuff would be safe there from snoopers.”
Joe jumped up from his chair. “I think we ought to get busy and go search the old tower right away. Oh, boy! Maybe we can hand old Mr. Applegate his jewels and bonds this afternoon and clear Mr. Robinson! Let’s go!”
“I’ll leave it to you boys to make the search,” said Mr. Hardy with a smile. “Then you can have the satisfaction of turning over the stolen property to Mr. Applegate. I guess you can get along without me in this case from now on.”