“Thank you, Colonel,” Stacey replied. “There was a favor I wanted to ask, sir,” he added. “Do you think it would be possible for me to see General Wood for a very few minutes?”
“I’ll find out,” said the colonel. “I feel sure he’ll be glad to see you.” And he left the room.
“Tell you all about it when I come out, Traile,” Stacey remarked abstractedly, thinking over what words he should use.
“This way, Captain,” said the colonel, returning presently. He led Stacey down a hall to a door at which he knocked. He opened it, and Stacey went through, alone, into the room beyond.
It was a large office-room, with in the centre a desk, at the further side of which General Wood was seated.
Stacey saluted stiffly.
But the general rose and held out his hand across the desk. “Come in, Captain Carroll,” he said, with his pleasant smile, and shook Stacey’s hand. “Sit down. I see you wear the D. S. C. ribbon. My congratulations.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The general considered him. “I’m glad you asked to see me, Captain,” he continued, sitting back in his chair, “because Colonel M—— has just told me of the extraordinary success you and Lieutenant Traile have had in making arrests. I have an entirely unmilitary curiosity to know how you did it.”
“Oh, well, sir,” said Stacey, “we didn’t really play fair. It happens that, though I’m not from Omaha, twenty-two of my men live here. I organized twenty of them, sir, and had sixteen of them go out in civilian clothes and locate the men on our lists.”