eaving his captain's house, Lieutenant Prescott took a walk along one
side of the parade ground. He hoped to encounter Hal, but that young
corporal was half a mile away at the time, practising signaling under
Sergeant Hupner.

Failing in encountering young Overton, Lieutenant Prescott remembered
that Corporal Noll Terry, now in charge at the post telegraph station,
was likely to know all about his chum.

Stepping over to the station, where one operator was sending a long
military dispatch, while another leaned idly back in his chair, Prescott
found Noll at another table, absorbed in the study of an instrument that
he had taken to pieces.

"I want to say a few words to you, Corporal Terry," announced the young
lieutenant, stepping into a box-like office at the rear of the larger
room.

Prescott threw himself down at the desk, while Noll, after saluting,
remained standing at attention.

"Close the door, Corporal. That's it. Now, I want to ask you a few
questions about your friend Corporal Overton, and the disappearance of
Private Green's money."

Noll flushed painfully, though all he answered was:

"Very good, sir."

"Don't misunderstand me, Corporal Terry," went on the young lieutenant.
"I am not making an official investigation, and I am not looking for
evidence to implicate Corporal Overton in any crime. I don't mind
telling you that I haven't a particle of belief in Overton's guilt. The
very idea that he would rob any one is opposed to the common sense of
any one who really knows your friend and his record."

"Thank you, sir."

This time Noll's face was positively beaming with pleasure.

"So, you see, you don't need to be in the least on your guard in what
you may say to me," continued the lieutenant, smiling in his most
friendly way. "I don't mind stating, further, that my whole interest in
this matter is the interest of an officer who is determined, if
possible, to see a good man cleared from suspicion."

"What can I tell you, sir?" Noll asked eagerly.

"Well, Corporal, the worst evidence pointing to any presumption of guilt
against your comrade and friend is the finding of the revolver hidden
under his bedclothes. What do you think of that incident?"

"Why, I think, sir, that the revolver must have been slipped in under
the bedclothes by some one who wanted to throw all the suspicion on
Corporal Overton."

"I agree with you. Now, was that man an actual enemy of Corporal
Overton's, or did he mere