"We're only too glad that we helped find him," they told Miss Todd. "We couldn't accept a reward for what we did. In a way, it was chance that threw him in our path."
Although Miss Todd pleaded with them to alter their decision, they were firm.
"Our greatest reward is in seeing your brother with you again, with his memory restored," declared Frank. "We want nothing more than that."
But Miss Todd expressed her appreciation in tangible form before she left Bayport. She invited the Hardy boys and some of their chums, Chet Morton, Biff Hooper, Phil Cohen, Tony Prito, Jack Dodd and Jerry Gilroy, to a banquet at the hotel, and there the lads sat down to a "spread" the like of which they had not seen before. There was everything dear to the heart of a boy, from fried chicken, fluffy mashed potatoes and sweet pickles, to ice-cream and five different kinds of pie.
Professor Todham Todd, white-haired, kindly-faced, looking quite different from the wild-eyed Captain Royal of Honeycomb Caves, presided at the banquet and made a little speech in which he thanked them all for their interest in his welfare and their kindness to him. Although he had no idea of the real part the Hardy boys and their chums had played in his recovery, he had taken a genuine liking to them and it is probable that he enjoyed the banquet as much as any one.
When the lads had eaten of chicken and ice-cream until they could eat no more, Miss Todd stood up and said she had an announcement to make.
"You all know something of the circumstances under which we have gathered here to-night. You all know the debt of gratitude I owe to the Hardy boys, in particular, and to Chet Morton and Biff Hooper. So if they will stand up, I have something for them."
Blushing, the four lads got to their feet.
"All I can say," continued Miss Todd, "is that my brother and I thank you very, very much."
Todham Todd looked a bit bewildered, but he smiled quite as though he knew what it was all about. It was probable that the good man was mildly puzzled until the end of his life as to the reason for the presentations.