yet close. Once more Beany gave the signal, this time with a
leaping heart, and the answer came clear and keen, as though a
lid had been taken off.

Beany ran in the direction of the sound. As he passed the
flower-house, Porky hailed him.

"Hey!" he said. "Got a knife?"

Guided by Porky's voice, Beany and the Sergeant raced across the
grass.

"Here I am!" said Porky, cocky as you please. "Say, I wish you
could see this knot! I have worked about all night over it, and
it gets tighter and tighter."

The Sergeant whipped out a knife and cut the cord.

"Who tied you up?" he asked.

"A couple of fellows," said Porky, stamping the feeling into his
feet and ankles. "Couldn't see who they were."

"You can see one of them any time now, I'll bet," said the
Sergeant. "Your brother here did for him in the neatest way you
ever saw." He repeated the meeting on Salina Street, while Porky
walked up and down the drive between the Sergeant and his
brother.

"Yes, sir, he keeled right over and gosh, how he did flop around!