As he looked, a familiar car swept past him an and stopped. It was the Colonel's car, and Colonel Bright himself leaned out and beckoned him. Beany ran to the machine and saluted.
"Hop in, hop in!" said the Colonel. "I don't know which one you are but I want to talk to you. Go on, Sergeant," and the car leaped forward.
"You or your brother said something about a hunch. Never mind which one, I'll bet you both think alike. Now I want to know all about it. What's that hunch all about?"
Beany was silent.
"Come on, I'm listening," he said, urging the boy to words.
Beany looked up into the strong, rugged face and studied the keen, kind, twinkling eyes that made the Colonel the best loved man in the American army, then leaned close to the Colonel, and told him of the two men at the ice-cream stand, and then, going back, he told of their recognition of the captain as the man who had driven the car at the Troop D Farm. The Colonel listened, even forgetting to smoke, and a frown deepened on his face.
"Where is your brother now?" he asked.
"I don't know," said Beany. "At the green house waitin' for me,
I suppose."
"Would he go home, or back to the Police Camp?"
"No, sir, we always wait for each other," explained Beany.