"That settles it," said Frank. "We've found the treasure."
The boys looked at one another in triumph.
"Jackley wasn't lying after all. He did hide the stuff in the old tower. And Mr. Robinson wasn't in league with him and didn't find it after it was hidden," ruminated Joe. "We can clear up the whole affair now."
"Let's start, then!" Frank exclaimed. "No use sitting here all day patting ourselves on the back. It's up to us to get right back to Bayport and turn this treasure over to the Applegates."
Hastily, he scrambled up through the trap, and Joe passed the bag of treasure up to him. Frank put the sack carefully to one side, then helped his brother up to the top of the tower. After that he tied the treasure sack to his belt, in order that he might have the full use of his two hands in descending the precarious ladder.
They were so excited by their momentous discovery, by the knowledge that all the days of fruitless search had now ended, that they descended the ladder at break-neck speed. The last two rungs of the ladder snapped under Frank's feet and the boys were obliged to undertake a drop of six feet in order to reach the ground, but they hardly noticed it. Scarcely had they picked themselves up than they were off on a run for their motorcycles, parked far back on the hillside.
"We've shown 'em, eh?" gasped Joe.
"I'll say we have! Oh boy, won't this surprise everybody?"
"Now I'd like to see dad tell us we're not cut out to be detectives!"
"Wait till Adelia Applegate sees all her jewelry back again. She'll change her opinion of us."