"'I'm Colonel Blank,' says the man in the carriage. 'Corporal of the guard,' calls the sentry. 'I'm Colonel Blank,' says the man in the carriage to the corporal of the guard. Now, the corporal didn't know the colonel either. So the corporal bawls, 'Sergeant of the guard.' That was I, that night, and I didn't know the colonel, either. So I asked: 'Beg your pardon, sir, but do you know any of the officers of this command?'
"'Name the officers,' says the man in the carriage. So I named them.
"'I don't know one of your officers,' says the man in the carriage.
"'Then I'm sorry, sir,' says I, 'but I'll have to ask you, sir, to step into our guard-house until some officer of your regiment comes over in uniform and identifies you.'
"At that the man in the carriage puts on an awful scowl, draws himself up very stiff, and answers, 'I'll do nothing of the sort, Sergeant.'
"'I beg your pardon, sir,' says I, 'but if you are Colonel Blank, then you know very well, sir, that you'll have to step inside the guard-house and wait.'"
Sergeant Brimmer chuckled heartily over the recollection.
"And did Colonel Blank obey you, and go inside and wait?" asked Hal.
"Did he?" asked Brimmer, looking surprised. "Of course he did. What's a guard for in the Army, if it can't enforce its orders? And it was past midnight when we finally got an officer, by telephone, to come over and go bail for his colonel's identity. Then, of course, we turned the colonel loose."
"Did he complain against you?" queried Private Hal.