"All boys are like that more or less, but this is a lively pair," said the Captain. "They seem to want to know everything. They are studying all my books on the French and English guns now, and I heard one of them say the other day that he had some good ideas on airplanes."
"I hope he takes them home then," said the General. "They are good youngsters, and I'll be glad to get a receipt from their parents for them. They are perfectly obedient, and strict as any old regular about discipline, but no matter what good care we try to take of them, they are always getting into tight places."
"Their coming over here seems a strange thing," said one of the officers. "Sort of irregular."
"There is a reason," said the General. "They don't know it themselves. They were sent across because it seemed a good thing to have a boy's point of view for the boys over there of things over here. When I say they were sent, I do not mean that their expenses were paid. The Potters are amply able to spend money, but it was a good and patriotic thing for them to risk the lives of a fine pair like Porky and Beany. I don't even know their real names. Not that it matters. They would make themselves felt if they were called Percy and Willie. They are that sort."
Talk drifted to other things and time passed until a stir and footsteps outside made it evident that the expedition had returned. The door flap opened and the party filed in, the remaining prisoner in their midst.
The General glanced at him, then bent a steady, steely look on the man's face.
"You!" he said. "A German prisoner, you—"
The man's face lighted.
He stood erect and made an effort to salute with his bound hands.
"Yes, sir," he said in a low tone. "If I'm to be shot, sir, won't you let me tell you how it all happened?"