ht.

But Mock was reported for his utterance, and Wilhelm for his
sympathies. Both were brought up before Captain Greg Holmes, and
Dick was sent for to join in questioning the men, which was done
behind closed doors. At the end of the hearing Mock and Wilhelm
were returned to the guard-house looking much crestfallen.

"Did you hear what they said to me?" Mock was overheard to demand
of Wilhelm. "Said they'd have me tried for saying I'd desert,
and that I'd be likely to get several years in prison for talking
too much. Oh, I'm sure sick of being in this man's army!"

"Sure!" nodded Wilhelm, understandingly. "It's tough!"

"It'll be tougher, I warrant ye, if we hear ye two blackguards
using any more of your line of talk around here," Riley broke
in. "The guar-rd won't be forever stopping our pounding ye!"

After that Mock and Wilhelm were left severely alone by their
fellow-prisoners in the bull-pen. Most of these men were serving
merely sentences of a day to a week for minor infractions of
discipline.

The next morning Private Riley managed to get word to Greg that
Private Brown, of the guard, had been talking with Mock at the
barbed wire of the pen enclosure.

"Private Brown is supposed to be an all right soldier, but he'll
bear watching," was Dick's comment when he heard the report.

That afternoon it was reported that both Mock and Wilhelm had
been talking with Private Brown at the barbed wire fence. Dick
smiled grimly when he heard it.

The next morning orders were read releasing Mock, Wilhelm, Riley
and some of the other soldier prisoners ahead of time that they
might not be deprived of too much instruction. The released ones
were cautioned to be extremely careful, in the future, not to
fall under the disciplinary ban.

"Sure, I can understand some of us getting out, but not Mock,"
declared Riley to a bunkie (chum). "Him an' his talk about deserting
to the enemy!"

In the meantime Dick had given an accurate description of the
carpenter who had tried to enlist Mock in some dangerous scheme
of revenge. The fellow had disappeared from among the gang of
carpenters, and that was all that was known. Secret Service men
had been put on the trail, but had failed to find the fellow.

"Now, maybe a soldier sometimes says more than he means," broke
in Sergeant Kelly, who had come up behind the pair on the nearly
deserted drill ground. "Soldiers are like other people in that
respect."

"But not Mo