They went in, followed by the others. Captain McDonald seated himself at the end of the table, with Sergeant McCauley at his left and Major Penrose at his right. Attorney Kleiber and Major Blocksom sat below, on either side. The court of inquiry was open. There were no preliminaries.
"Major Penrose," Captain Bill began, "I have come here to see what you can tell me about this murder that has been committed in Brownsville."
Penrose replied readily, and with apparent frankness:
"I can tell you absolutely nothing. I cannot find out a thing from my men."
Captain Bill faced him steadily.
"Well, it seems very strange to me," he said, "that you cannot find out anything about your own men. I've been in charge of men for twenty years, and I've never had any that I couldn't find out anything I wanted to know from, if they knew it."
Major Penrose looked a trifle depressed.
"Here in a little camp of less than two hundred men," Captain Bill went on, "fifteen or twenty of them break out and shoot into people's houses and commit murder and then come back to quarters. And yet you can't detect any of the criminals. How about the officer of the day and the guard in charge of the guns and ammunition? Don't they know anything?"
Major Penrose shifted a little.