"Not a blessed thing, Corporal," replied the young recruit.
"Look! Here come the company commanders back," called another soldier, in a low tone.
"Sergeant Gray and the other sergeants of B Company will follow me to barracks," called Captain Cortland.
Now the curious soldiers saw each company commander, followed by his sergeants, step back to barracks.
For an hour the puzzled men of the battalion waited on the parade ground.
Then, in some mysterious manner, the news of what had really happened began to spread.
In the night unknown men had broken into Major Silsbee's house. This had not been a difficult thing to do as, on a military post, doors are rarely locked. Not one of the three entrances to Major Silsbee's quarters had been locked at the time.
Downstairs the thieves had gathered a few articles together, but had not taken them, as they had found better plunder upstairs. From a dressing-room adjoining Mrs. Silsbee's sleeping apartment the prowlers had taken a jewel case containing jewels worth some three thousand dollars. There had also been about two hundred dollars in money in the case.
As the thieves were leaving the house they were seen by a sentry some sixty yards away. The sentry had challenged, then fired. The thieves had fled, swiftly, running directly away from all light. But another sentry had also seen them, and had fired. Both sentries had agreed that there were four men, and that they wore the uniforms of soldiers.
The thieves made good their escape. Soon after the alarm was given forty men from A and D companies had been silently turned out to aid in establishing a stronger guard, and the barracks building had been watched through the rest of the night.