"I thought they never, never wore anything, but their uniforhis," she said.
Then another car drove up, driven by an extremely smart-looking man in blue uniform. He wore a peaked cap, and the other policemen saluted him smartly when he heaved himself out of the car. The car was big, but the man was big too!
The children gazed at him - and Bets gave a squeal. "It's the fisherman! It's the man we saw yesterday! Hallo!"
"Hallo, there!" said the big man, smiling,
"We've found the tramp, Inspector," said the plain-clothes policeman to the big man. The children looked at one another. So their friend was an Inspector of Police! Golly!
"An Inspector is a very, very high-up policeman,," whispered Pip to Bets. "He's terribly clever. Look at old Clear-Orf. He's trembling like a jelly!"
Clear-Orf was not really trembling, but it was plain that he was quite overcome by the visit of the Inspector to his small police station. His hands shook as he turned over the pages of his notebook.
The Inspector beamed at the children. "Nice to see you again, if I may say so," he said. He spoke to Clear-Orf, making Mr. Goon jump. "You are lucky to have five such smart children in your district, Goon," he said.
Clear-Orf opened and shut his mouth but said nothing. He didn't want smart children in his district, especially any that were smarter than he was! But he couldn't very well say so to his Inspector.
Then the tramp was brought before the Inspector and questioned. He answered willingly enough, once he had been assured that he would only do himself good, not harm, by answering truthfully. The children listened intently.