The next day he called at the office of Captain Murray.
“Do you happen to have,” he asked him, “any list of the co’porals in Company E?”
“Not here, Chick,” was the reply. “My roster is at the armory. I can tell who they are, though.”
“First names an’ all?”
“Hardly that. I only know them by their last names. Why?”
“Oh, I just kind o’ thought I’d like to know; that’s all. I—I might want to ask one of ’em for a job.”
“I see. Well, you go to Orderly Sergeant Barriscale. He’ll have a list and he’ll give you their full names.”
“No, I wouldn’t ask him. I don’t want to be under no obligation to him. I’ll find out some way.”
And Chick did find out. It was a slow and laborious process. But by consulting the city directory, by asking personal friends of the corporals, by many a roundabout way, he was in possession, before nightfall, of the desired information.
And then he ran up against another difficulty. There were two Alfreds in the list; both of them young, unmarried fellows, liable to have sweethearts. He decided to take the bull by the horns and interview each of them in turn. He found Alfred Griffin at his place of employment, a big wholesale house in the lower end of the city. He was shipping clerk there. His coat was off, his sleeves were rolled up, and he was busy as a bee checking up half a roomful of barrels, boxes and bales ready to be sent out to customers.