The onions, too, had a scent all their own. And as if this were not enough, Frank, in honor of the expected guest, had allowed Andy to have coffee, so that there was another fragrant smell added to the lot.
Pretty soon a thumping announced that Colonel Josiah had arrived, and Andy jumped up to welcome the old man. He came in, sniffing the air vigorously and manifesting the most intense delight.
“Reminds me of many a scene in my checkered past, lads,” said the old gentleman, who was a smooth-shaven party, with long white hair, and eyes that had not lost the fire of their younger days. “And I’m glad I held off until the feast was nearly ready, because I just couldn’t stand that long. This looks homelike. Glad to be with you, my lads. It was nice of you to ask an old codger like me. Perhaps I can repay you by relating a number of events this reminds me of.”
That was his one weak point. His past had really been so filled with adventures without number that everything served to bring some striking scene to his mind. But boys with red blood in their veins never tire of hearing about such things. And these two lads were built along such lines, for they deemed it a treat whenever they had a chance to listen to his thrilling recitals.
And the colonel never forgot to impress a moral to his tales. Old age was beginning to give him a different view of life from what he may have entertained at the time these scenes he mentioned were being enacted.
They sat there for nearly two hours talking. From his own past experiences the old man deftly turned the conversation in line with their aspirations, and asked many questions concerning what they expected to do when they found they could manage their aeroplane, which he had examined with considerable curiosity, and not a few words of praise.
Finally he announced that he had better be returning to the house. Andy would not let him go alone, though the moon was shining brilliantly.
When he came back later he found his comrade deep in the job of cleaning up.
“Oh, what’s the use doing that tonight?” asked Andy, prone to want to put off things to another day that ought to be done now.
Frank knew his little weakness only too well.