It is enough for this story that already the boys recognized the
gallant, simple courage and tenderness of the Colonel; enough
that all their lives they were to be strengthened and ennobled by
the example of his straightforward everyday life. When Porky and
Beany had themselves become great men, when, in their turn, boys
looked up to them with admiration and love, they learned to look
back with boundless gratitude to the fate that had led them,
through the Boy Scouts, into the friendship of Colonel Bright.
A faint inkling of this, passed through the minds of the twins as
they sat waiting for the Colonel to begin his story. And each
knew that the other felt it.
The Colonel regarded the boys with twinkling eyes.
"Sort of surprising, isn't it?" he said. "Not that this affair
would ever have come into your scheme of things at all, but for
one thing. I have got you over here, and in some ways it is
positively the worst fool thing I ever pulled off--taking the
responsibility of two kids like you, at a time like this."
"But, Colonel, please!" interrupted Porky. "Don't think I am
fresh, but just this once, while there is no one around, and no
one will know we are lacking in respect to you, sir, as a
superior, please, Colonel, let me tell you--"
"Go on," said the Colonel.
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