Still another member of the guard had been placed on post number three.
All the other commissioned officers on post, including Colonel North, now appeared, and the investigating party was adjourned to the roadway.
Noll reported that he had seen two fugitives at a distance, and had fired three times.
Under military discipline matters move rapidly. Soldiers with lanterns were now searching for the trail of those who had escaped. Keen eyes were also seeking either bundle of loot from Captain Ruggles's quarters. It was thought that the thieves, in their haste to get away, might have dropped their plunder.
Tip Branders, still unconscious, and badly hurt, according to the surgeon, was taken to the post hospital, and the civil authorities in Clowdry were notified.
"That fellow you shot called you by name, didn't he, Overton?" inquired Captain Ruggles.
"Yes, sir," Hal admitted.
"Ah, you knew the fellow, then?" inquired Colonel North. He spoke blandly, but he had an instant recollection of the anonymous note that had been received at battalion headquarters.
"Yes, sir," Hal spoke promptly. "The fellow is Tip Branders. He comes from the same home town that I do. He tried to enlist in the Army, but was rejected because he could not supply good enough references. Then he ran away from home, taking with him some money he stole from his mother, according to local accounts."
"Did you know the fellow Branders was in this part of the world?"