HAL UNDER A FIRE OF QUESTIONS
IMMEDIATELY after the bugle call for assembly the four companies of the
first battalion of the Thirty-fourth fell in by companies on the parade
ground.
After roll-call had been read each company commander stepped before his
own command.
"Was any man of B Company absent from his squad room at any time around
two o'clock this morning?" called Captain Cortland, looking keenly over
his command. Other company commanders were asking the same question. "If
so, that man will fall out."
Not a man fell out of any of the four companies.
"Was any man in B Company up and moving about the squad room at or about
two o'clock this morning?" was Captain Cortland's next question. "If so,
fall out."
Private Hal Overton quickly left his place in the ranks.
"Advance, Private Overton," ordered Captain Cortland.
Hal stepped forward, halting six paces from his company commander and
saluting.
"You were up and about in the squad room at that time, Private Overton?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did you leave the squad room?"
"No, sir."
"You are positive of that?"
"Positive, sir."
"You did not leave the squad room, even for a moment?"
"No, sir."
"What brought you out of your bed?"
"I heard shots, sir, and calls for the guard."
"What else did you see or hear, Private Overton?"
"I went to the window, and saw that there was some excitement up by the
officers' quarters, sir."
"Then what did you do?"
"After listening and looking for some time, sir, I returned to my bed,
wondering what it was all about."
Hal was the only soldier in the battalion who had fallen out of ranks.
"Follow me," ordered Captain Cortland. He led the young soldier back to
where Adjutant Wright and the sergeant-major were standing by Major
Silsbee.
"Lieutenant Wright," reported Captain Cortland, "Private Overton admits
being up in the squad room at the time when the shots were fired in the
dark hours this morning. He claims that he did not leave the squad room,
and that it was the noise that woke him and made him curious."
"Go to my office, Private Overton, with Sergeant-major Beall," directed
the adjutant briefly.
Hal and the sergeant-major saluted, then stepped away.
"Is it allowable, Sergeant, for a rookie to ask what this is all about?"
asked Hal respectfully, as the two neared the adjutant's office at
headquarters.
"You'd better not ask. I'm not going to tell you anything," replied
Beall.
So Hal was silent, though he could hardly escape the feeling that he was
being treated a good deal like a suspected criminal. Though he knew that
he was innocent of any wrong-doing in connection with the excitement of
the night before he could not help feeling undefined dread.
Lieutenant Wright speedily returned to his office, taking his seat at
his desk. Hal was summoned and made to stand at attention before the
adjutant.
"Now, Private Overton," began the adjutant, fixing a frigid gaze on the
rookie, "you may as well tell me all you know about last night's
business."
Hal quickly told the little that he knew.
"Come, come, my man," retorted Lieutenant Wright, "that much won't do.
Out with the rest of it."
"There isn't any 'rest of it' that I know of, sir," Private Hal answered
respectfully.
"Now, my man----"
With that preliminary Lieutenant Wright proceeded to put the young
recruit through a severe, grilling cross-examination. But Hal kept his
head through it all, insisting that he had told all he knew.
"Overton," rapped in the adjutant, at last, "you are very new to the
Army, and you don't appear to realize all the facilities we have for
compelling men to speak. If you remain obtuse any longer, it may be
necessary for me to order you to the guard-house under confinement."
"I am very sorry, Lieutenant," Hal replied, flushing, "that you will not
believe me. On my word of honor as a soldier I have told you all that I
know of the matter."
The adjutant bent forward, looking keenly into the rookie's eyes. Hal
did not flinch, returning the gaze steadily, respectfully.
Then, in a somewhat less gruff tone, Lieutenant Wright continued:
"That is all for the present, Private Overton. Report to your company
commander, at once."
The adjutant and sergeant-major left headquarters a moment later, going
by a different path. As Hal glanced down the parade ground he saw the
men out of ranks, though every man was still close to his place.
"Major," reported the adjutant, after the exchange of salutes between
the officers, "Private Overton denies having left the squad room in the
early hours this morning. For that matter, sir, if he had not been
honest, he need not have reported that he was out of his bed, or that he
heard the sentries' shots."
"It was well he did admit that much," replied the major, "for he let it
out at company mess this morning."
"I went at the young recruit, sir, so severely that I was almost ashamed
of myself," continued the adjutant. "I am under the impression, sir,
that Private Overton told me the truth."
"So am I," admitted Major Silsbee thoughtfully. "His record, so far, is
against the idea of his being mixed up in rascally business. I think it
likely that Private Overton's extreme fault, if he is guilty of any, is
that he is possibly shielding some other soldiers whom he saw sneak
back into barracks after the excitement was over. Probably he isn't even
guilty of that much."
"Are you going to search the squad rooms, sir?" inquired the adjutant.
"Yes, Wright, though it makes me feel almost sick to put such an affront
upon hundreds of innocent and decent men."
"The decent ones, sir, will welcome the search."
"That is what Colonel North told me. Summon the company commanders, and
direct them to go into each squad room of their companies with the
sergeant in charge of the squad room."
Hal, in the meantime, had returned to B Company. He found many of his
comrades regarding him suspiciously, and flushed in consequence. But
Corporal Cotter, Private Hyman and others stepped over to him.
"What's it all about, rookie? Do you know?" asked the corporal.
"Not a blessed thing, Corporal," replied the young recruit.
"Look! Here come the company commanders back," called another soldier,
in a low tone.
"Sergeant Gray and the other sergeants of B Company will follow me to
barracks," called Captain Cortland.
Now the curious soldiers saw each company commander, followed by his
sergeants, step back to barracks.
For an hour the puzzled men of the battalion waited on the parade
ground.
Then, in some mysterious manner, the news of what had really happened
began to spread.
In the night unknown men had broken into Major Silsbee's house. This had
not been a difficult thing to do as, on a military post, doors are
rarely locked. Not one of the three entrances to Major Silsbee's
quarters had been locked at the time.
Downstairs the thieves had gathered a few articles together, but had not
taken them, as they had found better plunder upstairs. From a
dressing-room adjoining Mrs. Silsbee's sleeping apartment the prowlers
had taken a jewel case containing jewels worth some three thousand
dollars. There had also been about two hundred dollars in money in the
case.
As the thieves were leaving the house they were seen by a sentry some
sixty yards away. The sentry had challenged, then fired. The thieves had
fled, swiftly, running directly away from all light. But another sentry
had also seen them, and had fired. Both sentries had agreed that there
were four men, and that they wore the uniforms of soldiers.
The thieves made good their escape. Soon after the alarm was given
forty men from A and D companies had been silently turned out to aid in
establishing a stronger guard, and the barracks building had been
watched through the rest of the night.
Yet no soldier had been caught trying to get back into barracks, nor had
any man been missing at roll-call unless well accounted for.
"Somewhere in this battalion, then," murmured Noll to a man in C
Company, "there are four soldiers who are thieves."
"Yes," replied the soldier bluntly, "and it looks as though your bunkie
at the recruit rendezvous might know something about it."
"Hal Overton doesn't know," flared Noll promptly, "or he'd have told!"