Mr. Hardy was accustomed to being called out of town suddenly and the family were used to his abrupt departures. The detective was a man who acted quickly, once he had made a decision, and Miss Todd was surprised to see him leaving immediately.
"No use wasting any time," he explained cheerfully, having paused only long enough to pack a bag with a few essentials. "I'll get busy at once."
Although Frank and Joe Hardy were curious to learn further details of the latest mystery on which their father was working, and in which they had taken a small part, Miss Todd had evidently suffered more from her adventure in Barmet Bay than they had at first thought. She was obliged to keep to her room over Sunday and the lads had no chance to talk to her, as Mrs. Hardy decided that their guest should not be disturbed. Wisely, Mrs. Hardy wanted to keep the woman's mind off the matter of her brother's disappearance and she knew that if the boys besieged her with questions her state of anxiety would be only rendered worse.
On Monday, when the boys returned to school, they were met at the gate by Chet Morton, heading a group of grinning chums. Chet, a plump, jovial youth, equally fond of food and fun, held up a restraining hand.
"We would fain talk with thee, noble youths," he said. "Humble varlets though we are, we would crave your indulgence for a time."
"You sound like Shakespeare or somebody," said Joe.
"Probably somebody," Chet agreed. "Young masters, we have gathered here to-day to do honor to two brave and bright young men whom we are proud to call our chums. Perhaps," he went on, in the manner of an orator, "in the years to come, when we are poor and unnoticed people, we may be able to say to our grandchildren that once upon a time we went to school with the Hardy boys, that we went swimming with them, and that they often gave us rides in their motorboat. However, that is not getting to the point—"
"What's it all about?" asked Frank. "What's all this speech for?"
"Patience. Patience. Our little committee has waited patiently for your arrival and now we wish to show you our esteem and regard. It has come to our notice that on Saturday, the fourteenth instant, you did bravely, heroically, and nobly perform the humane act of hauling an old lady out of the water when she had swallowed several gallons of Barmet Bay and was in grave danger of drowning. As a slight token of our appreciation we wish you to accept these little tokens—" here Chet gestured to Biff Hooper, who grinned and stepped forward with two shiny objects on an old cushion—"not so much for their intrinsic value, which is considerable, but for the spirit in which they are meant."
Chet took a deep breath.