The platform was quite bare. The stone walls gave no opportunity of a hiding place. Their search had been in vain. "We were fooled, I guess," Frank admitted. "There hasn't been any one in this tower for years. I knew it as soon as I saw there were no footprints." The boys gazed moodily down over the city, and then down over the grounds of Tower Mansion. The roofs of the mansion itself were far below, and directly across from them rose the heavy bulk of the new tower. "Do you think he might have meant the _new_ tower?" exclaimed Joe suddenly. "Dad said he specified the old one." "But he may have been mistaken. In the darkness and everything, perhaps he didn't know the difference." "That's possible, too. It's certain that he didn't hide anything in this tower, at any rate. Although why he should say 'the old tower'--" "Let's ask Mr. Applegate if we can search the new tower, too." "What a fine chance we have! He'll crow over us now in real earnest when we go back and tell him we didn't find anything. He'll say 'I told you so', and if we try to get into the new tower he'll just laugh at us." "It's worth trying, anyway. We can tell him the whole story about Jackley. That ought to convince him." Disappointed, the Hardy boys descended through the trapdoor, and then made their way down through the tower until at last they were in the long gloomy hallway again. Their clothes were covered with dust and their hands and faces were grimy. Slowly, they trudged back into the main part of the mansion again, and there they met Adelia Applegate, who popped out of a doorway as they were passing and cackled with delight. "So these are the fine boys who were going to find the stolen stuff for us, eh!" she exclaimed, in her cracked voice. "So these are the boys who were so sure it was hidden in the old tower! Well, well! And they didn't find anything after all!" "I'm afraid we didn't, Miss Applegate," Frank answered, with a smile. "But if you and Mr. Applegate will let us tell our story I think we can convince you that we really thought the stuff was hidden there. Even yet I believe it is hidden somewhere in the mansion--probably in the new tower." "In the new tower!" she sniffed. "Absurd! I suppose you'll want to go poking through there now." "If it wouldn't be too much trouble." "It _would_ be too much trouble, indeed!" she shrilled. "I shan't have any boys rummaging all through _my_ house on a wild-goose chase like this. You'd better leave right away, and forget all this nonsense." Her voice had attracted the attention of Hurd Applegate, who came hobbling out of his study at that moment. "Now what's the matter?" he demanded. Then, seeing the boys, his face became creased in a triumphant smile. "Ah, ha! So you didn't find anything after all! Heh! Heh!" he began to chuckle, immensely pleased with himself. "I told you so." CHAPTER XVIII THE NEW TOWER