"Here, stop that!" warned the policeman, though he reached forward too late to stop the passing of the matches.
"You shall have them back in a moment," Hal promised the boy.
Drawing a piece of sealing wax from another pocket, Hal lighted a match, dropping the hot wax over the flap of the envelope.
"Here, you can't do that," warned the house policeman, who, however, could get the cell door key only by going upstairs to the desk.
"But I've already done it," smiled Hal.
Noll handed his chum a signet ring, which Hal pressed into the wax.
"That won't go," muttered the policeman. "The lieutenant won't have it. He has to see all letters that go out of this station."
"Then let your lieutenant break the seal, or interfere in any way with the prompt delivery of an official communication between a member of the United States Army and his commanding officer, and see what will happen to your lieutenant upstairs. If the lieutenant is a friend of yours you might call that little point to his attention," Hal retorted, with a cool smile, as he passed the envelope to the messenger.
"How much will it be to deliver that letter promptly out at the camp?" Corporal Overton inquired.
The messenger boy named the sum, to which Overton added carfare and a little "tip."