To his surprise, Leech drew back and actually turned pale.
“What’s the matter?” asked Thurston.
“I have a wife.”
The little volunteer gave a sniff.
“All right—send her in your place. I guess she’d do as well.”
“If he has, he’s trying to get rid of her,” said someone standing by, in an undertone.
“Why—ah!—my eyes are bad; I’m too near-sighted.”
“Your eyes be hanged! You can see well enough to read this paper.”
“I—ah!—I cannot see in the dark at all,” stammered Leech as a number of the new volunteers crowded around them.