Every one looked toward Colonel Two, he being the man with the most practical tongue in camp.
The colonel took the picture, and Weasel slipped up behind him and looked over his shoulder. The colonel looked at the picture, abruptly handed it back, looked at the young lady, and then gazed vacantly into space, and seemed very uncomfortable.
"Been here, but gone," said the colonel, at length.
"Where did he go, do you know?" asked the gentleman, while the lady's eyes dropped wearily.
"Nobody knows—only been gone a day or two," replied the colonel.
The colonel had a well-developed heart, and, relying on what he considered the correct idea of Jim Hockson's mission, ventured to say:
"He'll be back in a day or two—left all his things."
Suddenly Weasel raised his diminutive voice, and said:
"The detec—"
The determined grip of the colonel's hand interrupted the communication which Weasel attempted to make, and the colonel hastily remarked: