“But I'm sure you have brought them, as General Curtis was to send a messenger about this time, and that was one of the objects for which I sent out the scouting party.”
Harry repeated his assurance that they had brought no dispatches; then the colonel laughed and called his adjutant, and the latter, at the colonel's suggestion, proceeded to rip off some of the patches on the butternut garments of the boys. The first and second of the patches revealed nothing, but the third yielded a letter written on thin paper, and inclosed in oiled silk. Another patch brought forth another letter, and by the time the garments had been restored to their original unpatched condition, no less than three dispatches had been brought to light.
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Harry and Jack stood speechless with astonishment. Here they had been carrying dispatches without knowing it; the mystery of their having nothing further to do than report to the commander of the post was explained.
“This is nothing new,” said the colonel, as he silently regarded the youths. “It is n't the first time a man has served as messenger without being aware of it; but your case is n't equal to that of a man in Kentucky that I heard of not long ago. He was a rebel spy, who passed frequently inside our lines. One of our spies who was with the rebel army used to conceal dispatches in the lining of this man's overcoat whenever he saw indications that he was about to go away, and when he got into our lines an officer who knew his real character used to get possession of the papers, the efficient carrier being entirely ignorant of the fact that he was thus being used. He was allowed to come and go, as his services to the Union were much greater than to the Confederacy, though he was no friend of ours.”
The colonel then gave orders that the boys should be well fed and cared for, and told them they could rest a day before setting out on their return. “And when you go back,” said the colonel, “you will not run as much risk as you have just been through.”
They had their day's rest as proposed, and on the second morning after their arrival at Fort Scott they started on the return journey. Colonel Hinton assigned a company of cavalry to accompany them, and kept good his promise that they should not run the same risk as in their trip upward from the army.