CAPTAIN CORTLAND HEADS THE PURSUIT
AWAY over by post number four Hal heard three rifle shots ring out. But
he paid no heed. Instead he answered the now terrorized wretch in front
of him:
"I'll have to kill you, unless you surrender!"
"Then I'll get you first," came the defiant answer.
From the flashes, it could now be seen that Tip Branders was firing with
a revolver in each hand.
The bullets came in so swift and close that Private Hal Overton
expected, every instant, to be bowled over.
But still he fired deliberately, though he now strove to make each shot
effective.
In a few moments he fired next to the last cartridge in his magazine,
just as the furious revolver fusillade came to an end.
"O-o-oh!"
Then the young sentry felt, rather than saw, something topple over at
the base of the tree.
Hal leaped up, at the same instant hearing some one run up behind him.
That brought the young sentry about like a flash.
"I'm Captain Ruggles, Sentry!" came the prompt hail, and Private Overton
recognized the voice.
Then Hal wheeled the other way, rushing toward the tree, calling back as
he ran:
"I think I got the scoundrel, sir."
In another moment Hal was beside the tree, holding his rifle clubbed and
ready, in case Tip Branders was playing 'possum.
But the fellow lay on the ground, curiously huddled up, not moving a
hand.
"I got him with that last shot, sir," announced Private Overton, turning
and carefully saluting his officer.
"You've had a brisk and brave fight, Sentry," cried Captain Ruggles
warmly. "I heard your first shot, and rushed here as fast as I could
come."
In reality, long as the time had seemed, hardly more than a full minute
had passed. Captain Ruggles, with a pair of white-striped trousers drawn
on over his pajamas, and slippers on his feet, presented a picture of
speed.
Hal bent beside his old enemy of the home town to see where Tip had been
hit.
Captain Ruggles, changing his revolver to his left hand, drew a match
and struck it.
Tip's first apparent wound was a graze at the top of his right shoulder.
A dark, red stain appeared there. Another bullet had grazed his right
wrist.
The third wound apparent was at the right side of the chest.
"It'll need a rain-maker (Army surgeon) to tell whether that bullet
touched the scoundrel's right lung," declared Captain Ruggles.
At that instant a woman's voice sounded from one of the windows of the
house behind them:
"Corporal of the guard, you'll find Captain Ruggles and the sentry
somewhere back of the garden."
Then came the sounds of running feet. Corporal Sanders was coming with
the guard.
That incident showed the young soldier, more clearly than anything else
could have done, how brief the duel between Tip and himself had been.
For Hal knew that, when the alarm is sounded, accompanied by the sound
of a shot, the corporal and the guard come on the dead run.
"Right here, Corporal of the guard!" shouted Captain Ruggles, standing
up. "Send one man back immediately for hospital men and a stretcher."
"Hospital men and a stretcher, Davidson," called the corporal, and one
soldier detached himself from the running squad, wheeling and racing
back.
Then the corporal of the guard dashed up at the head of his men, giving
Captain Ruggles the rifle salute by bringing his left hand smartly
against the barrel of his piece.
Barely behind the guard came Lieutenant Hayes, of A Company, who was
officer of the day.
"The sentry has caught one of the burglars, Hayes," called Captain
Ruggles, as the lieutenant came up on the run.
"Glad of it, sir. It's about time."
Then, turning to Hal, Lieutenant Hayes continued:
"You're sentry on number three, Private Overton?"
"Yes, sir."
"Make your report in as few words as you can."
This Hal did, telling about the two men whom he saw sneaking away with
bundles, and also about the third man who had joined in firing at him.
"Which way did the other two retreat, Private Overton?"
"I couldn't see, sir," the young soldier answered. "I was in the corn at
that moment."
The corporal of the guard, in the meantime, had sent another man to
relieve Noll Terry on post number four, directing Terry to report to the
officer of the day.
Still another member of the guard had been placed on post number three.
All the other commissioned officers on post, including Colonel North,
now appeared, and the investigating party was adjourned to the roadway.
Noll reported that he had seen two fugitives at a distance, and had
fired three times.
Under military discipline matters move rapidly. Soldiers with lanterns
were now searching for the trail of those who had escaped. Keen eyes
were also seeking either bundle of loot from Captain Ruggles's quarters.
It was thought that the thieves, in their haste to get away, might have
dropped their plunder.
Tip Branders, still unconscious, and badly hurt, according to the
surgeon, was taken to the post hospital, and the civil authorities in
Clowdry were notified.
"That fellow you shot called you by name, didn't he, Overton?" inquired
Captain Ruggles.
"Yes, sir," Hal admitted.
"Ah, you knew the fellow, then?" inquired Colonel North. He spoke
blandly, but he had an instant recollection of the anonymous note that
had been received at battalion headquarters.
"Yes, sir," Hal spoke promptly. "The fellow is Tip Branders. He comes
from the same home town that I do. He tried to enlist in the Army, but
was rejected because he could not supply good enough references. Then he
ran away from home, taking with him some money he stole from his mother,
according to local accounts."
"Did you know the fellow Branders was in this part of the world?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then why, Private Overton, did you not report your information promptly
to your officers?"
"Why, I did not have the least idea, sir, that Branders was still in
this neighborhood, and I did not, at any time, connect him in my mind
with the robberies."
"How often, and where, have you seen Branders in this part of the
country?" demanded Colonel North, impressively, while the other officers
looked on with keen interest.
Hal flushed, for he felt that now he was under some suspicion himself.
"I have seen Branders just once, sir," the recruit replied. "Private
Terry was with me at the time."
"This man here?" inquired Colonel North, turning to glance at Noll, who
stood by.
"Yes, sir."
"When did you both see Branders, then?"
"Our first day here, sir. You may recall, Colonel, that you told Terry
and me that we need not go on duty that first day, but that we might
have the day to ourselves, as a reward for having helped Major Davis in
that mail-train affair the night before our arrival at this post."
"I remember," nodded Colonel North. "But you have not yet told me the
circumstances of your meeting with Branders."
Hal hurriedly recounted the details of that meeting, among the rocks
past the ledge, out on the road leading westward from the post.
"At that time, Colonel," Private Hal Overton continued, "Branders told
us he was headed for a ranch to the westward, where he expected to get a
job. We had no reason for disbelieving him, at the time, and so it never
even occurred to us, until to-night, that he might be one of the
burglars who have been looting this post. Besides, sir, though Tip had
always been known as a rather worthless fellow, we had never heard of
his being the associate of downright criminals."
Now the searchers came in to report that they could find neither a
trail nor any sight of dropped bundles of loot.
"At daylight, Major," suggested Colonel North to Major Silsbee, "you may
be able to send out scouts who, with a better light, may succeed in
finding a trail."
Hal turned to Lieutenant Hayes, saluting.
"I wonder, sir, if it won't be best for me to offer a suggestion to
Colonel North?"
The regimental commander turned at once.
"You may speak, Private Overton."
"I was about to inquire, sir," replied Hal, saluting, "if it isn't
likely that there may be a good hiding place for thieves among the rocks
back of the ledge of which I spoke some time ago."
"What makes you think the thieves may be there, Overton?"
"The thought has just struck me, sir, that Branders was probably lurking
about in the vicinity of a cave or other place of concealment, on the
day that he threw the stone at us. It struck me, sir, that a squad of
men might search that locality with the chance of finding the rest of
Branders's associates and also of recovering much of the stuff that has
been stolen from quarters on this post."
"That's a bright suggestion, worth working upon. Cortland, will you take
a detachment of men and hasten out to that locality? Post men all
around while it is still dark, and then, with a few men, plunge right
through that neighborhood. Overton and Terry will go with you as guides,
so that you may strike the exact spot without loss of time."
Captain Cortland dispatched a soldier to go at once to Sergeant Hupner's
squad room, with orders to turn out the men in that room at once and
under arms, with fifty rounds of ammunition per man.
This done, Captain Cortland hastened to his own quarters, soon returning
with his sword hanging at his belt and his revolver in its holster.
"While you are gone, Cortland," said Colonel North, "Silsbee and I will
make whatever other investigations we can think of."
In an almost incredibly short space of time Sergeant Hupner's squad was
ready, and turned into officers' row.
"Overton and Terry, you will walk ahead of the detachment, and I will go
with you," Captain Cortland announced. "Sergeant Hupner, march your
detachment in column of twos, twenty paces to the rear of the guides.
Forward!"