When Bert returned to barracks he was most bitter against Dick. To all who would listen to him Dodge freely stated his opinion of a man who would seek to shield his own wrong-doing by throwing suspicion on another.
"There were plenty who saw me borrow the handkerchief," contended
Dodge stormily. "Whoever saw me take it also saw me return it.
I'll defy any man to state, under oath, that I returned more
than the handkerchief."
"How did the smear happen to be on your hand?" asked Dunstan, who, besides belonging to the same mathematics section with Prescott was also a warm personal friend.
Bert hesitated, looked uneasy, then replied:
"How about the smear? Why—-I don't know It may have come from a match."
"Yes, what about that smear? How did it come there?" cried Greg, when Dunstan repeated Dodge's words.
Through Greg's mind, for hours after that, the question insistently intruded itself:
"How about that smear?"
Yet the question seemed to lead to nothing.
The next morning, Saturday, it was known, throughout cadet barracks, that a general court-martial order for Prescott would be published that afternoon.