But Fenton Hardy had already expressed himself on the subject of the reward.
“I want nothing,” he said. “You have already paid any expenses I incurred in trying to trace Mr. Todd. As for finding him, the credit belongs to the boys.”
But the Hardy boys were insistent in their refusal.
“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 anyone.
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 tonight. 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.
For Miss Todd thereupon handed Frank and Joe an order for a handsome motion picture camera, something they had long wished to own. To Chet and Biff she gave each a gold watch and chain.
“Speech! Speech!” shouted the other boys, as the recipients of the gifts stammered their thanks.
After considerable pressure, Frank was at last prevailed upon to say a few words.
“I’m not a very good orator,” he said.
“You’re a better detective,” shouted one of the lads at the table.
Perhaps he was—and Joe, too. One can decide in “The Mystery of Cabin Island.”
“I’m not a very good orator,” Frank said, “but I certainly want to thank Miss Todd very much indeed, although we don’t deserve such a beautiful present.”
There were loud cheers for this effort, as the boy sat down blushing.
“Speech from Chet Morton!”
“Say, listen—” protested the bashful Chet.
But he was shoved to his feet.
“Speech! Chet Morton’s going to make a speech!”
“Gosh, I can’t say anything except that I thank Miss Todd very much and I’m glad Professor Todd is well again and—and I wonder if there’s to be a second helping of ice-cream.”
There was.
Colophon
The Secret of the Caves
was published in 1929 by
Franklin W. Dixon.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Elizabeth Miller-Boldt,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2024 by
Al Haines, Cindy Beyer, and The Online Distributed Proofreaders Canada Team
for
Faded Page
and on digital scans from the
Internet Archive.
The cover page is adapted from
Secret of the Caves,
a painting completed in 1929 by
Walter S. Rogers.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
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