to which he had turned, a man in his shirt sleeves, standing idly in a
doorway called out softly:

"Jump in behind me, comrade, if you're in trouble and being chased."

Hinkey stopped pantingly, giving the man a swift look. That glance was
enough to show the deserting soldier that he had met a kindred spirit.

"Thanks. I'll accept," muttered Hinkey, darting into the doorway.

The man who had hailed him pulled the door shut just before Sergeant Hal
and four soldiers ran around the corner above.

"What's that soldier been doing that ran by here so fast?" called the
citizen in shirt sleeves.

"Which way did he go?" asked Hal swiftly, halting just an instant.

"See the next corner?"

"Yes."

"Your man turned there--to the left. You fellows will have to double
your speed if you're ever going to catch that soldier."

"Put on all the steam you can, men," Hal called back over his shoulder
as he once more started in what he believed to be pursuit.

Chuckling softly, the citizen opened the door, closed it again and went
inside to tell Hinkey why he had saved him.

It was a full hour before Sergeant Hal Overton again reported back at
camp on the grounds.

He had come back at last, forced to admit himself baffled.

"You did all you could, Sergeant," replied Captain Cortland, who had
just returned to the company street. "Hinkey will be caught, sooner or
later."

Then, turning to First Sergeant Gray, who had just come up, Captain
Cortland smiled as he added:

"Sergeant Gray, I wonder if Hinkey is still running. If he runs long
enough he'll probably fall in with some muck-raking magazine writer,
who'll get out of Hinkey a startling story of why some soldiers insist
on deserting the Army."

"Captain," replied Sergeant Gray, "I could tell those magazine writers a
good deal about why men desert from the Army, sir. But the magazine
writers wouldn't want my story of why men desert."

"What would your story be, Sergeant?"

"Why, sir, I'd tell those writers--and prove it by the records--that the
men who desert from the Army are the same worthless, skulking vagabonds
who are always getting bounced out of jobs in civil life because they're
no good anywhere."

"That's the whole story, Sergeant Gray," nodded Captain Cortland.

"I know it, sir; I haven't been in the Army all these years not to have
found out that much."

Just then Noll Terry appeared on the scene, wearing his newly won
sergeant's chevrons.

Captain C