“Certainly, provided you leave enough to do camp duty.”
“I will, sir. I’ll take a man for every deserter.”
Captain Mack made his salute and hurried out, laughing all over. His first care was to go to the officer of the guard and find out just how many boys there were in Lester’s party (he took it for granted that they were all together and that they intended to desert and go off somewhere to have a good time), and his next to make out a list of the boys who were to comprise his squad. It is hardly necessary to say that the names of Don and Bert Gordon, Egan, Curtis and Hopkins appeared on that list. The captain meant to have a good time himself, and he wanted some good fellows to help him enjoy it.
“I have a roving commission, fellows,” he said to the boys, as fast as he found them. “If I can find out where those deserters have gone, I shall not come back without them. Stick a pin there.”
“Good for you, Mack,” was the universal verdict.
“I tell you it pays for a fellow to mind his business,” continued the delighted captain. “I never would have been allowed so great a privilege if I hadn’t behaved myself pretty well this term. Say nothing to nobody, but hold yourselves in readiness to leave camp at daylight. We’ll get breakfast in the village. If you haven’t plenty of money, perhaps you had better ask for some; and while you are about it, you might as well get ten dollars apiece. The superintendent is not very particular about financial matters during camp, you know.”
That was true, but still he looked surprised when more than twenty boys came to him that night and asked for ten dollars each. He handed over the money, however, without asking any questions, and when the last one went out he said to the teachers who had gathered in his marquee:
“This looks as if Captain Mack were up to something himself. Well, he’s a good boy, he associates with none but good boys, and we can trust him with the full assurance that any privileges we grant him will not be abused.”