“These two lads,” said Mr. Applegate, indicating the Hardy boys. “They found it this morning.”

“Them kids?” scoffed Chief Collig. “I don’t believe it.”

“Well, there’s the stuff to prove it,” snapped Fenton Hardy.

“I’ve got my jewelry back, thanks to them,” declared Adelia Applegate shrilly. “They were smarter than the whole pack of you. If it wasn’t for them, the stuff would never have been found. And I was the one who didn’t want to let them search the old tower and who spoke crossly to them. Why, they’re real detectives, both of them.”

In all the talk and excitement that followed the clearing up of the Tower mystery, the Hardy boys received no compliment that they treasured so much as that remark of Adelia Applegate’s.