"Green, are you sure your money's gone?" insisted Hupner sternly. It was no light thing to the reliable old sergeant to find that he had a thief in his squad room.
"Come and look for yourself, Sergeant."
"Corporals Overton and Terry, dress yourselves," ordered the sergeant, as he started after Private William Green. "The rest of you men needn't dress unless I direct it."
"Now, look here, Sergeant," insisted Green, after pulling the mattress bodily from his cot. "Do you see anything that looks like my buckskin pouch?"
There was no pouch to be found on or near Soldier William's cot.
"How much money did you have in the pouch?" demanded Hupner almost angrily.
"Seven hundred and ten dollars," declared Green promptly.
"Whew!"
To most of the soldiers present that much money represented a fortune.
Yet no one in the room thought of doubting William's assertion. As readers of the preceding volume know, Green had had considerable money when he joined the regiment something more than a year earlier. And William was known to be one who was constantly adding to his money by saving his pay.