"Wait till Adelia Applegate sees all her jewelry back again. She'll change her opinion of us." "Wait till Hurd Applegate sees his bonds back. And wait till Chief Collig and Detective Smuff hear about it!" So the Hardy boys gloated over their prospective return, but beneath it all they were thinking of what this discovery meant to the Robinsons. They reached the embankment, scrambled over the fence, and made their way up the slope until at last they regained their motorcycles. Although they had only partly finished their lunch, they were too excited to eat any more, so they stowed the remainder away in the basket, lashed the bag of treasure securely to Frank's carrier, and turned the motorcycles around. "What a lucky chance for us that we decided to go down this road!" declared Frank. "If we had done as we intended and circled around by Chet's place we would never have found the stuff!" "And it's ten chances to one that neither of us would have thought of that water tower until his dying day." The rest of their speculations were drowned by the roar of the motorcycles as the Hardy boys set out on their return to Bayport with the Tower treasure. CHAPTER XXIII ADELIA APPLEGATE'S COMPLIMENT The curtain rolled down on the mystery of the Tower treasure that afternoon in the library of the Applegate home. The Hardy boys had gone directly to their father with the story of the recovery of the loot, and Fenton Hardy had lost no time in acquainting Hurd Applegate with the facts. Between them, they arranged a little surprise for Chief Collig and Detective Smuff, as well as for Henry Robinson. On the invitation of Hurd Applegate, the chief brought Mr. Robinson to Tower Mansion, "to be faced with additional evidence," as Fenton Hardy suavely put it. Chief Collig and Detective Smuff entered the library with their prisoner between them. They had confidently anticipated that Mr. Applegate had discovered some new facts that would further serve to tighten the web about the unfortunate caretaker, and when they came into the room there was nothing at first to eradicate this impression. Hurd Applegate and Adelia Applegate sat by the huge library table, and with them were Mr. Hardy and his sons. Chief Collig did not at first notice the gunny sack lying on the table. "Well, Mr. Applegate," said the chief, fanning himself, as usual, with his hat. "I brought along Mr. Robinson, just as you asked." "Good. As I mentioned to you, there has been some new evidence in this case." "I knew something would turn up," grunted Smuff. "Not that any new evidence is needed, of course," declared the chief. "We got this fellow dead to rights, as it is. He ain't got a chance in the world. But still, it's just as good to make a real strong case of it." "I'm afraid you don't understand me," went on Hurd Applegate. "This new evidence will _clear_ Mr. Robinson. And when he is cleared, I want him back in my employ again."