Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened either.I agree. Definitely odd. Maybe one needed to be shut down and the wrong one was pulled back. Hard to say. These old WC-130s were tired...
One thing I will always remember from the little ME training that I’ve had is the phrase ‘dead foot, dead engine’, which should help reduce an accidental feather or shut down of the wrong engine. Check and verify, although that doesn’t really apply to a four engined aircraft.