"What would your story be, Sergeant?"
"Why, sir, I'd tell those writers—and prove it by the records—that the men who desert from the Army are the same worthless, skulking vagabonds who are always getting bounced out of jobs in civil life because they're no good anywhere."
"That's the whole story, Sergeant Gray," nodded Captain Cortland.
"I know it, sir; I haven't been in the Army all these years not to have found out that much."
Just then Noll Terry appeared on the scene, wearing his newly won sergeant's chevrons.
Captain Cortland's inquiry into the cause of the accident to Sergeant Overton was concluded by taking the sworn testimony of Private Slosson. The papers were then filed away to be used in case the deserter Hinkey should be apprehended.