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Uncle Sam's Boys as Sergeants, a novel by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 3. The First Breath Against A Soldier's Honor |
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_ CHAPTER III. THE FIRST BREATH AGAINST A SOLDIER'S HONOR THE night was so quiet, the air so still, that the single, distant stroke of the town clock bell over in the town of Clowdry was distinctly audible. Dong! boomed the bell, the vibration reaching the ears of two or three of the lighter sleepers, and causing them to stir lightly in their sleep in Sergeant Hupner's squad room. Out on the post, not far away, a dog chose to bark at that town-clock bell. Some one gliding swiftly through the squad room upset a stool with a loud crash. Yet few of the soundly sleeping soldiers bothered their heads about such a series of trivial noises. Now, a series of hails began, starting down at the guard house and running rapidly around the sentry posts until the sentry pacing near barracks caught it up and called lustily: "Post number six. One o'clock, and all's well!" One man in especial had been stirring on his cot as though trying to throw off some phantom of dread. Now instantly after the sentry's hail this stirring sleeper emitted an excited yell. "Wow! Turn out the guard--post number six!" Instantly Sergeant Hupner awoke, sitting up on his cot. "What's the matter with you, you idiot?" growled the disturbed sergeant. "I've been touched!" wailed the excited voice. It was the voice of Private William Green, the joke of the squad room, the man who hoarded his money and carried much of it about with him. "Go to sleep, William," ordered the sergeant in a more soothing voice. "I've often told you that one so young shouldn't drink coffee at supper." "I've been touched, I tell you!" insisted William Green, now out of his bed and feeling with frantic hands under the head of the mattress. "Don't I know? I tell you, my buckskin pouch is gone. Some one was in this room and got it!" In a jiffy Sergeant Hupner was out of bed. His groping right hand found the switch and turned on the electric lights. Then Hupner jumped for his uniform trousers and drew them on. "What's wrong, squad room?" called the voice of the alert sentry outside. But Hupner first went to the door of the squad room, locked it and dropped the key in his trousers' pocket. Then the sergeant ran to an open window. "I don't believe it's anything worse than a nightmare of one of the men, sentry. Don't call the guard until I look about a bit." "Very good, Sergeant." Then Hupner turned to the cot of Corporal Hal Overton, which was close to the window. "Why, Corporal, what ails you?" demanded the sergeant. "You're shaking and your face has a frightened look." "I--I have just awakened from a pretty bad dream," Corporal Hal replied sheepishly. "I'll be over it at once." "Turn out, Corporal, and you also, Corporal Terry. We've got to investigate in this room." Hal instantly thrust a leg out. Something dropped to the floor. Bang! "Ow!" wailed Private Green. "It wasn't a dream, after all. I knew it would go off." Sergeant Hupner, bending low like a flash, now picked up a revolver from the floor beside Hal's cot, while Hal himself sat up, staring rather dazedly at the weapon. "How did this come to be in your bed, Corporal Overton?" demanded the sergeant. "I don't know, Sergeant." "But it was in your bed. You shook it out when you went to get up just now." "That's the gun," insisted Private William Green. "I saw it poked into my face by some one prowling before my cot." "Were you so scared that you didn't dare jump up or say anything?" demanded Hupner, turning upon Private Green, who had now reached the vicinity of Hal's cot. "Scared, nothing!" grunted Private William. "I thought I must be dreaming, for there was no danger in this room. Then I heard something go smash down the room, like a stool being tipped over, and then I came altogether out of my doze, and time I did, too! For I put my hand under the mattress and my pouch and money were gone. Whoever poked that gun toward my head got my money!" By this time more than half the men in the room were sitting up on the edges of their cots. A few more lay still, though wide awake, while a few of the hardest sleepers were still in the Land of Nod. "Green, are you sure your money's gone?" insisted Hupner sternly. It was no light thing to the reliable old sergeant to find that he had a thief in his squad room. "Come and look for yourself, Sergeant." "Corporals Overton and Terry, dress yourselves," ordered the sergeant, as he started after Private William Green. "The rest of you men needn't dress unless I direct it." "Now, look here, Sergeant," insisted Green, after pulling the mattress bodily from his cot. "Do you see anything that looks like my buckskin pouch?" There was no pouch to be found on or near Soldier William's cot. "How much money did you have in the pouch?" demanded Hupner almost angrily. "Seven hundred and ten dollars," declared Green promptly. "Whew!" To most of the soldiers present that much money represented a fortune. Yet no one in the room thought of doubting William's assertion. As readers of the preceding volume know, Green had had considerable money when he joined the regiment something more than a year earlier. And William was known to be one who was constantly adding to his money by saving his pay. Moreover, Private Green had made not a little by lending money to comrades in the battalion. He loaned on the time-honored system of lending among enlisted men in the Army--the system of "five now but six on pay day." There are soldiers in every company--in every squad room--who always spend their pay within a few days after receiving it from the paymaster. As soon as his money is gone, and he needs or wants more, the improvident soldier turns to some comrade who saves and lends his money. The loan is five dollars, but by all the traditions the borrower must return six on pay day. William Green had been making money on this plan. Some of his wealth Green now had on deposit at a Denver bank, but much of his "pile" he always insisted on carrying with him. And usually this is a safe enough plan. In no body of men in the world does honesty average higher than among the soldiers of the American regular Army. Once in a while, of course, an exceptional "black sheep" may get in even among soldiers, and William had often been warned not to keep so much convertible wealth about his person. But William trusted his comrades and carried large sums of cash. "Corporal Overton, you take one side of the room, and Corporal Terry the other. Scan the floor for any sign of a buckskin pouch." "Let me help," begged William. "All right," nodded Sergeant Hupner. "And look, also, for any stool that may be overturned." The search was unavailing. No sight was gained of the buckskin pouch, while every stool in the room was upright and in place. "Does any man here know anything about Green's buckskin?" demanded Hupner. There was no answer. Crossing to the window, Sergeant Hupner called: "Sentry, call the corporal of the guard." Almost immediately the corporal of the guard was at hand. Sergeant Hupner informed him that there had probably been a robbery in the squad room and stated the known circumstances briefly. Corporal Jason immediately sent a member of the guard to arouse the officer of the day and ask him to come to the squad room. Soon after Lieutenant Greg Holmes strode into the room, his sword clanking at his side. Lieutenant Holmes heard Sergeant Hupner's report, which was but a short one. Then the young officer of the day turned to Corporal Hal, eyeing him keenly. "Corporal Overton, isn't there something you can tell me about this? You were found awake, shaking somewhat and with an alarmed look on your face." "That is true, sir," Hal Overton admitted. "When Sergeant Hupner directed you to rise you did so, and at the same time kicked out of your bed this revolver, which was discharged." "Yes, sir." "Corporal," continued Lieutenant Holmes, "it would look as though you must have some knowledge of the affair. Bear in mind that I am not making any charge against you." "I--I should hope not, sir," stammered Hal Overton, his face growing very pallid. "What do you know about this matter, Corporal Overton?" pressed the young officer. "Absolutely nothing, sir, more than Sergeant Hupner has already stated to you, sir. My condition of apparent fright was due to a bad dream from which I was at the moment waking." "And you know nothing whatever regarding the robbery from Private Green?" "Absolutely nothing more than the rest, sir," insisted Hal, though his color continued to rise. The young soldier felt that he was half suspected, and he felt all the awkwardness of innocence--an awkwardness that real guilt seldom displays. "Men," it was Sergeant Hupner's voice breaking the stillness now, "if you each want to clear your own individual selves you will step forward and volunteer to have your persons and your belongings searched." Instantly the men moved forward, and Lieutenant Holmes glanced away from Hal Overton. The lieutenant's survey of the lad's face had not been in the least accusing, but merely a keen look of inquiry. "All the men in the room have come forward and are willing to be searched, sir," reported the sergeant. "Good enough, Sergeant, since they volunteer, but I would not have them forced without an order from the post commander. Sergeant, will you undertake the search?" "Yes, sir; shall I have the corporals assist me?" "Yes, Sergeant, and I will lend a general oversight at the same time." That search occupied some forty minutes. Not only were the persons of the men searched, but their chests and all their belongings. Hupner and his two boyish young corporals asked Lieutenant Holmes to search them himself, which the officer of the day did. "There doesn't appear to be a chance that Private Green's money is in this room, or in the possession of any man in the room," remarked Lieutenant Holmes at last. "Green, you should have taken sensible advice and deposited your money, either with the paymaster or at a bank." "I shall, sir, if I ever get it back," replied William Green mournfully. "Well, there appears to be nothing more that I can do," continued Lieutenant Holmes. "However, I will return to the guard house and call up the commanding officer over the telephone, reporting the matter. Let your men go to bed, Sergeant, but you will remain up until either I return or send you some word through the corporal of the guard." After the officer of the day had gone out, the men of the squad room looked from one to another in bewilderment. "If any fellow took my money for a joke," announced Private William Green, "I'll call it all off if he'll be kind enough to return it." No one accepted the offer. "It's gone, all right, Green, evidently, and serves you right," said Sergeant Hupner gruffly. In the course of a few minutes the corporal of the guard came back to inform Sergeant Hupner that a guard would be set, both in the corridor and outside, to prevent any man from leaving this squad room during the night. In the morning, immediately following first call to reveille, Colonel North, his adjutant and the officer of the day would visit the squad room together. "And that's all there is to it, for to-night, men," announced Sergeant Hupner. "Every man in bed now, for I'm going to switch off the light." Ten minutes later some of the soldiers were asleep, but not all, for presently Hupner's strong military voice boomed through the room: "Stop that whispering! Silence until first call goes in the morning." After first call to reveille did sound in the morning barely sixty seconds passed when the door was opened to Colonel North and the two officers accompanying him. Then, indeed, there was a thorough examination. Each man in the room was questioned keenly by the colonel himself. "Corporal Overton, how do you account for that revolver being in your bed?" Colonel North held up the weapon. It was an ordinary service revolver, such as is worn by an orderly when on duty without rifle, and there were many such revolvers in barracks. No soldier was supposed to have one of these revolvers, except by orders, yet it would be easy enough for any soldier to get one by stealth. "I can't account for it, sir," Hal answered. "I didn't have it myself, or put it in the bed, and I can only guess that some one else did." "Why should any one else do that, Corporal?" "Possibly, sir, with a view to making me appear guilty." "Do you suspect any one in particular?" "No, sir; I can't imagine why any man in the room, or in the battalion, should want to do it." "You understand, Corporal Overton, that you are not under any charge, or even suspicion, of guilt in the matter," continued the commanding officer, for Hal in truth was esteemed much too fine a young soldier to be suspected by his officers in the present case. "Thank you, sir," Hal replied. The inquiry was soon over and proved as resultless as that made alone by Lieutenant Greg Holmes in the middle of the night. The officers left and the men prepared to hasten out for breakfast formation. "I never thought Overton would do a trick like that," remarked a low voice behind the young corporal, but Hal heard it. "Oh, you can't tell. Sometimes these quiet fellows are the worst. Still waters run deep, you know." "I suppose other fellows in the squad room are thinking the same," thought Hal, his heart throbbing with pain. He more than half guessed the truth--that the seed of suspicion against him was already sown--that henceforth he would be watched by nearly all eyes. _ |
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