“Now look here, men,” he said. “You’re fed up on army stuff and so am I. You know as well as I do that I haven’t got a bit of authority over you. I can’t tell you to go and do anything you don’t want to do. But last night some things were done in this town that I happened to see. And one of them was that a brave man stood out in front of a mob of beasts and said ‘no’ to them. And what happened to him because he said ‘no,’ as any one of you would have said, was—oh, God damn it! you know what it was!”
Stacey’s face was white now, and his voice shook with anger.
“He was your mayor,” he continued after a moment, “but it isn’t that I care about. What I care about is that he was a man. You fought the Germans and no one knows better than I how you fought them. Well, there were men among the Germans, decent men, whatever we think about what they fought for. In this mob last night there weren’t any men—just beasts. And I ask you—just ask you, mind!—if you’ll turn in with Lieutenant Traile and me and go after them. That’s all,” he concluded, and shut his teeth with a snap.
There was an instant’s pause. Then: “I guess you know, Captain,” said one of the men awkwardly, “that we’ll all of us do whatever you say—and do it quick!” he added sharply.
“Thanks, Sergeant. Is that the way you all feel about it? . . . Thanks again.”
“Now then,” he went on, in a brisker, matter-of-fact tone. “Lieutenant Traile tells me that we’ll be able to make arrests. Well, that’s what we want. I wouldn’t have called you across the block for the sake of patrolling streets. That’s a Boy Scout job. This is the way it’ll be, I suppose. Officers will get lists given them and go out with a patrol of men to get the animals listed. I don’t know how many men they’ll assign to each officer, but two will be enough. Now listen to me. I only want four of you to show up in uniform. Let’s see—er—Morgan and Isaacs for me, Mills and Jackson for Lieutenant Traile. The rest of you, all sixteen, keep out of uniform. Don’t show up at any Legion meeting. Report to me through Sergeant Peters and Corporals Petitvalle, Blaine and Swanson. You’re to find out where the men are whose names we’ll have given us. They won’t be at their homes, of course, most of them. Then the six of us in uniform will go get them. D’you see? Dirty work! Spies’ work! Informing!” He paused questioningly, but the laughter that greeted his warning was reassuring. “All right, then,” he said easily. “You won’t be very popular, of course, but who wants to be popular with skunks? That’s all for now. Nothing doing till General Wood arrives. The sergeant and the three corporals will come here at nine to-morrow morning—in civilian clothes, mind!—and await instructions. Morgan, Isaacs, Mills, and Jackson show up, in uniform, at the Legion meeting to-morrow after General Wood’s arrival.”
When the men had gone Traile looked at Stacey oddly. “Gee whiz, Captain!” he cried finally, “you’re stronger than ever on love for military discipline, aren’t you? Here you’ve gone and organized a civilian detective service right in the bosom of the army! Oh, cripey!” And he burst out laughing.
“Well,” said Stacey coolly, “what we want is to get those men, isn’t it?”
But Blake appeared at the door.
“Good!” Traile exclaimed. “Lunch is ready. We’ll go down. And this afternoon there’s a Legion meeting. I’ll take you over. Not for the joy of it, but just because I’ll have to present you to the officers—and to the colonel from Fort Crook. He’ll be there.”