"I hope now, sir, we can have a chance to explain," protested Hal, looking squarely at the officer behind the desk.
"Did you see all this business, Johnson?" asked the officer at the desk.
"Yes," lied the policeman glibly. "I caught 'em at it."
"You men can save your explanations for the judge in the morning," wound up the officer at the desk. "Cell number twelve, Johnson."
Down below the cell door clanged on two white-faced, angry young soldier boys. It was a serious thing, they knew, for ambitious soldiers to have a clash with the civil authorities.
"We'll lose our corporal's chevrons through this," Noll predicted.
"Yes," assented Corporal Hal Overton, his eyes flashing. "But I can't help it if we do. It's worth that price to be a man!"