“Jackley confessed the whole business,” Frank persisted. “And on his deathbed he said that he hadn’t been able to get away with the loot. That he had hidden it.”

“Where?”

“In the old tower.”

“And it isn’t there?”

“Joe and I have just searched the place high and low. The stuff isn’t there. And from the fact that there are no footprints or marks of any kind in the dust, I don’t think anyone has been in the place for a long time.”

“The old tower has been closed for years.”

“So we thought,” Joe interjected, “that he might have been mistaken and that he had really hidden the stuff in the new tower instead.”

Hurd Applegate rubbed his chin meditatively. His manner toward the boys had undergone a change, and it was evident that he was impressed by their story.