"All nonsense!" declared Adelia Applegate. "It's all a pack of falsehoods. I don't believe a word of it."
"Now, now, Adelia," said her brother soothingly, "these boys may be right after all. It won't hurt to take a look around, at any rate."
"And much you'll find, I'm sure! I declare, Hurd Applegate, you're just as bad as those boys are."
"Maybe, maybe," he answered. "But I'm going to help them search the new tower, anyway."
"Don't ask me to brush the dust off your clothes when you come back, then. For that's all you'll get. Dust. Nothing more. The jewels and bonds are no more in the new tower than they are back in the safe right now."
"All right, Adelia. Perhaps you're right. But it won't hurt to make a search, anyway. Come on, boys."
With that, Hurd Applegate led the way down the hall and opened the door leading to a corridor that extended toward the new tower. Frank and Joe, tingling with excitement, followed.
Although the new tower had been built just a few years back and although its rooms had been furnished, it had been seldom occupied, save on the rare occasions when the Applegates had visitors from the city. The new caretaker, employed to replace Robinson, was a lazy and slovenly fellow, who did not bother to extend his duties to the tower, knowing that the Applegates seldom went near that part of the mansion and realizing that any laxity in his duties in that respect would scarcely be discovered. It came as a surprise to Hurd Applegate, then, to find out that the new tower was dusty, that the windows had not been cleaned, that there were cobwebs on the ceilings.
In the first room they found nothing, although they rummaged about in all the corners, looked beneath the table, behind the chairs—looked everywhere, in fact. Not until they were quite satisfied that the loot had not been hidden there, did they ascend the stairs to the next room, and there again their search was fruitless.
Hurd Applegate, being a quick-tempered man, fell back into his old mood. The boys' story had convinced him, and he had been even more certain than they that the stolen bonds and jewels would indeed be found in the new tower. But when two of the tower rooms had been thoroughly searched without success, his disappointment increased.