At lunch, after the reception and departure of the guests, Cobb laughingly referred to the little incident of the morning. The President expressed his disapprobation of the Captain’s behavior, and told Cobb that he would give the young man a lesson in politeness.
According to their programme, the office of the Secretary of War was visited at 13:30 dial, and Cobb was introduced to Mr. Fowler, the urbane but quick-spoken Secretary. Here he learned much concerning himself, and a great deal in regard to the state of the nation for purposes of offense and defense.
“Yes,” continued the Secretary, in answer to a question from Cobb, “your status has been investigated, and it is found that you were dropped from the army, as a deserter, December 1, 1904, under the provisions of section 1,229, Revised Statutes. But when the wonderful facts attending your return to life, and the existence and tenor of your leave of absence, given in 1887, had been fully laid before the Supreme Court, sitting in bank, yesterday, a decree was formulated that you have never been out of service—that is, legally. You, therefore, Mr. Cobb, revert back to your status as a Lieutenant in the Second Cavalry.”
Cobb meditatively admitted that perhaps Captain Hathaway would, after all, take him back to the regiment on the 10th of the following month.
“But,” and the Secretary looked inquiringly at the President, who nodded assent, “you would have been the ranking Major in the cavalry arm in 1918, the year you would have retired for age, according to the law at that date.”
“Yes, you are quite right, Mr. Secretary, I would have been a Major; but I never expected to have been the senior. Promotion at that time was slow beyond measure—stagnated. Old men with grown-up families were still Lieutenants, while the majority of Captains were old, rheumatic, and unable to perform their duty. Lieutenants did all the work.” Cobb seemed to revert back in disgust at the state of promotion in 1887.
“As you would have been retired as the ranking Major,” slowly continued the Secretary, paying no attention to Cobb’s remarks, but with a pleasant air at the news he was about to communicate, “the President has been guided by a sense of the justice due you, and has nominated you to the Senate as such, to rank at the head of the list. Further, as a vacancy exists in the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel, your promotion to that rank follows as a natural course. The Senate will confirm the nomination at 16 dial. Allow me, Colonel Cobb, to congratulate you,” and the good old man clasped the hand of the new Lieutenant-Colonel; nor was the President slow in his congratulations. Both seemed to have taken a special interest in Cobb.
He, in his turn, expressed his sincere thanks for their kindness to him, and was highly elated at the good fortune attending his new life.
“By the records,” continued Mr. Fowler, “you are thirty-three years of age, for you entered the cataleptic state at that age; and it has been decided that the period of your inanimation shall not in any manner be counted against you. A Lieutenant-Colonel at thirty-three, the youngest in the army, you will one day command the army of the United States.” And he smiled kindly, while the President looked admiringly upon his protégé.