sir."

Ferguson, with a gigantic sandwich and a mug of coffee.

Bennington abruptly realized that he had not eaten since noon. Then,
in the middle of his second bite, he was aware of still another
problem.

He swallowed hastily. "Mossback, did you bring the entire battalion?
Are you completely set up for independent battalion operation?"

"Yes, of course. Why?"

"I've got a compound full of prisoners and a staff to feed."

Mosby turned to his aide, but the captain has already started for the
door. Mosby swung back to Bennington, rubbed his hands together
gleefully. "Better and better. Just as if we had captured and had to
use an enemy installation. Prisoners to guard, dead men and a couple
of wounded to take care of.... Jim, I can't thank you enough."

"You're welcome, but how long can I keep you?"

Mosby sobered. Like all good general officers, he was acutely
sensitive to the political significance of his actions.

"We can get away with what we did tonight, Jim," he answered slowly.
"But well, you know how the states have become the past couple of
years, since they started forming regional groups.

"Wait a minute! You got prisoners from six states, don't you?"

"Yes."

"You can have the whole command. And if the AG's office can't dig up
at least six good precedents for my decision, we can always let slip
the story of the hula girl and the hot cigarette butt. I may do that,
anyhow. I always did think he went too far to get good pictures."

"I may need more," Bennington said soberly.

"What you need, you get, Jim, but why?"

"Two of them got away."

"Yes?" Mosby was interested, but not especially so.

"One was a very good escape artist--guy call Dalton. _Harry Dalton._"

"Um, yes," Mosby interrupted, "I recall that name. If I were his
commanding officer, I would call him 'Always AWOL'."

"The other was a fairly young man named Clarens."

* * * * *

A silence grew. At last Mosby spoke, "I've heard of him, too. How did
they get through the road blocks?"

"We had to use everything." The tired man standing at the door was
Corporal Forester. "We used even trainees from the Academy, and those
two must have gotten out of here as soon as the riot started.

"There was only one checkpoint between here and Harrisburg and the
truck looked legitimate, full of clothes picked up around the
countryside. There seemed to be only one man in it and he was a sort
of everyday-looking