Socola had given his ex-Chief no intimation of his personal feelings and no hint of his association with O'Connor.
"I've a little favor to ask of you, young man," Holt said suavely.
Socola bowed.
"At your service, Chief—"
"I need a man of intelligence and skill to convey a proposition to Wirz, the keeper of Andersonville prison. He has been sentenced to death by the Bureau of Military Justice. I'm going to offer him his life on one condition—"
"And that is?"
"If he will confess under oath that Davis ordered the starving and torturing of prisoners at Andersonville I'll commute his sentence—"
"I see—"
"I'll give you an order to interview Wirz. He has never seen you. Report to me his answer."
When Socola explained to Wirz in sympathetic tones the offer of the Government to spare his life for the implication of Davis in direct orders from Richmond commanding cruelties at Andersonville, the condemned man lifted his wounded body and stared at his visitor.