DETECTIVE ADAMS’S QUICK PERCEPTION

“You know, Jim,” soliloquized Fordney, “I’ve got some pretty smart boys in that class of mine! It’s gratifying to see the strides most of them are making.”

“You’re like an old hen with her chicks,” retorted Kelley, squinting at his friend through cigar smoke. “What mental Herculean feat has one of them accomplished now, may I ask?”

The Professor chuckled good-naturedly. “You know how I’ve drilled the importance of observation into them—well, the Carter arrest was the result of that. It wasn’t a serious affair, but it might have been.

“Detectives Charles Adams and Bill Jeffries were driving their squad car towards the air base. It was 7:45 a.m. on a Sunday during the last World War and both boys were tired from the long hours of night duty. Suddenly Charley, turning to his companion and pointing to a passing car, asked, ‘What’s wrong with it?’

“‘Nothing,’ sleepily retorted Jeffries. The car’s occupants, an elderly man driving and a boy sitting in the middle of the back seat, his lips puckered in a whistle, were rambling along at a leisurely pace—both ordinary, unsuspicious-looking individuals! Also everything about the old open Ford was in order. Yet Adams knew something was wrong!

“Motioning the car to the curb he discovered two ten-gallon cans of airplane gas on the floor between the front and back seats!”

“Oh, Adams just had a hunch,” grunted Kelley. “Why did they stop the car?”

“Because of my drilling the importance of observation into my boys!” retorted Fordney.

What observation aroused Adams’s suspicion? Turn page for solution.