"We'll find it, never fear," promised Frank, putting on his cap. "I hope the Applegates don't throw us out when we ask to be allowed to look around in the old tower."
"Just tell them you have a pretty good clue to where the bonds and jewels are hidden and they'll let you search to your heart's content," Mr. Hardy advised.
"Come on then, Joe. We'll have that thousand dollar reward before the morning is over."
Their father glanced at them shrewdly.
"Don't count your chickens before they are hatched," he said. And then, as the boys hastened out of the den, he called after them: "Also, you might remember the old proverb that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip."
But the Hardy boys scarcely heard him, so eager were they to begin searching the old tower and so confident were they that the mystery was about to be cleared up.
CHAPTER XVII
The Search of the Tower
When the Hardy boys reached Tower Mansion that morning the door was answered by Hurd Applegate himself. The tall, stooped gentleman peered at them through his thick-lensed glasses. In one hand he held a sheet of stamps, for it was his custom to devote the mornings to his collection.
"Yes?" he said testily, for he was annoyed at being disturbed. "What do you boys want here at this hour of day?"