The Mystery Deepens
Fenton Hardy was dumbfounded when his sons returned to him with the news that the loot had been found in neither the old tower nor the new. So implicitly had he believed in the dying confession of Red Jackley that he had not even bothered to join in the search, preferring to let his sons have the satisfaction of recovering the stolen goods that he was positive were hidden in the old tower.
“And you’re sure you searched the place thoroughly?” he asked, for the third time.
“Every inch of it. There was nothing in the old tower. No one had been there in weeks,” answered Frank.
“How could you tell?”
“By the dust. It hadn’t been disturbed. There wasn’t a footprint of any kind.”
“But you searched anyway.”
“We went through the tower from top to bottom,” Frank replied. “It wasn’t any use. No one had been there. So then we thought Jackley might have been mistaken and that he had left the stuff in the other tower.”
“And Applegate let you search that as well?” and Fenton Hardy’s eyes twinkled.
“Not until we had told him our reasons. We told him about Jackley, and then he became enthusiastic and even helped us in the search. But we