Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants Part 10

Next Skinny Carroll, nervously avoiding the black looks of Bunny and his crew, came forward and was sworn. He told the truth, now, as glibly as Bunny's friends had lied.

"Then, on that night, and at the time of the fight, you did act as lookout for young Hepburn and his friends?" asked Major Elbert.

"Sure," agreed Skinny readily.

"Who told you to act as lookout?"

"Bun Hepburn himself!"

"'Bject!" shouted the Hepburn lawyer.

The sergeant moved over and laid a hand on the attorney's shoulder.

"At what period in the affair," inquired the major, "were you so instructed to run up to the corner to act as a lookout against the coming of the police?"

"Just before de gang closed in," declared Skinny.

"Closed in--for what?"

"T' soak Overton and Terry."

"Then the gang did deliberately combine to waylay and attack Lieutenant Overton and Terry?"

"Surest pipe you ever lit," affirmed Skinny Carroll, in the only style of speech of which he was master.

The Hepburn attorney was then given an opportunity to cross-examine the police witnesses. He did not, however, succeed in shaking any of the testimony.

Within ten minutes more the inquiry was declared closed. Army courts do not announce their findings, which are sent, sealed, to the War Department, there to be acted upon as the President of the United States directs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "We Shall See!"]

For that reason Hal and Noll knew nothing of the nature of the court's findings. Both young lieutenants, however, looked decidedly cheerful as they left the city hall. Skinny Carroll went away under the protection of Chief Blake. The gang melted quickly, Bunny with them, but the elder Hepburn was found down by the gate, ready to fix the two Army boys with one of his dramatic glares.

"Probably you two _gentlemen_ think you have cleared yourselves,"

sneered the orator. "You feel that you have squared the court and have killed my son's case. But we shall see!"

Hal, for answer, looked straight into Hepburn's eyes with a cold stare of contempt. Noll did not even trouble himself to glance at the fellow.

Four days later the Army boys received long official envelopes from the War Department. The findings of the court of inquiry had vindicated and exonerated both young officers, who would continue to enjoy the full confidence of the President and of the War Department. Further, Lieutenants Overton and Terry were authorized to publish this letter in any way that they chose.

The next morning the _Tribune_ published the letters and congratulated the Army boys.

On the other hand, the _Sphere_ printed a long screed against the government, and against the War Department in particular, and hinted that all Army officers, young and old, stood together in cases like the present one.

Before the day was over, however, Proprietor and Editor Sayles was having his own troubles. He had been summoned to Lawyer Kimball's office, where he discovered that he was about to be defendant in two suits for libel.

"But you can attack public officers in the press," retorted Sayles.

"Only as to their performance of their public duties," rejoined Counsellor Kimball. "You have grossly libeled my two clients in their private life. As they are Army officers, and therefore men of the highest standing as to honor, they can obtain a verdict for large damages."

Sayles tried to bl.u.s.ter, whereupon the lawyer advised him to seek an attorney of his own for consultation. Within a week Sayles knew more about the libel law, and gladly settled out of court to avoid the danger of having to pay much more after standing suit. The amount that he paid was five thousand dollars, and to do this the editor had to put a mortgage on his newspaper plant.

"Five thousand dollars is a nice little pile," remarked Noll, when the Army boys had been summoned to their attorney's office.

"As you have informed me that you regard Sayles's money as soiled, and that you will not use it for yourselves," continued the Counsellor, "I shall stick to my original agreement, which was not to charge you anything for my services unless the case had to go to court. Have you thought how you will apply this money?"

"Yes," came promptly from Noll. "In this town there are eighteen churches, one synagogue and one hospital. That makes twenty organizations in all. Mr. Kimball, will you send each of them your check for two hundred and fifty dollars?"

"Too bad you can't send the donations in Sayles's own name," laughed Lieutenant Hal.

"I can forward the sum to each recipient anonymously," replied the lawyer, his eyes twinkling, "and can state that Mr. Sayles is responsible for the gift."

When Editor Sayles, of the _Sphere_, received the thanks of eighteen churches, a synagogue and the hospital his face expressed helpless fury rather than good-will toward men.

CHAPTER VI

A SEND-OFF FROM THE "SPHERE"

Hal Overton came into the parlor, a few days later, to find his mother studying a pair of visiting cards.

"I was out, a little while ago, and found these cards under the door when I returned," explained Mrs. Overton, handing the cards to her son.

"Mr. and Mrs. Redding," Hal read from the pasteboards. "Shall you return their call, Mother?"

"I don't believe I shall. But you have something there to show me?"

"Yes; I met the postman on the street, and he handed me a letter--from the War Department."

"Your orders?"

"Yes, Mother."

"What regiment? Where are you to be stationed?" asked Mrs. Overton eagerly.

"Which question shall I answer first, Mother?" the Army boy queried, half-teasingly.

"Your station?"

"Fort Butler."

"Where on earth is that?"

"In Texas, on the border."

"Thank goodness, it's in the United States," exclaimed Mrs. Overton fervently. "I was afraid you'd be sent back to the Philippines, or to Guam."