Their coming caused a great sensation, and there was soon a dense crowd around them, for the uncanny circumstances of their return spread through the camp like wildfire. The reins were cut from the dead hands and the body lifted to the ground. Then after making a full report the boys went to their quarters. They were besieged with inquiries by curious comrades, but they shook them off as soon as possible. Their experience had been one that they were only too anxious to forget. "I don't think I want any supper, after all," remarked Tom to his friends. "Same here," responded Bart. "I don't feel as though I'd ever be hungry again." "All I want to do is to get to sleep and forget it," said Billy. "That is, if I _can_ get to sleep." "You'll sleep all right," observed Frank, "but I wouldn't guarantee you against nightmare." But harrowed as their nerves had been, they were too young and healthy to stand out against the sleep they needed, and when they woke the next morning both their spirits and their appetites were as good as usual. Life at the front was too full of work and rush for any one experience to leave its imprint long. Their first inquiry after breakfast was for Rabig. "How's Rabig getting along?" Frank asked of Fred Anderson. "Oh, he's all right, I guess," answered Fred carelessly. "When the doctors came to examine him they found that the wound didn't amount to much. Said he'd be all right in a day or two." "Is he under arrest?" asked Tom. "Why, yes, I suppose he is," answered Fred. "But I guess it's a mere form. The fact that the prisoner didn't finally get away will count in his favor. It's like baseball. An error is an error, but if the man who ought to be out at first gets put out when he tries to steal second the error is harmless. It's no credit to Rabig that a bullet got the man he let escape, but it's lucky for him just the same." It was evident that Anderson had no suspicion that Rabig had been guilty of anything but carelessness, and the boys carefully refrained from saying anything about what they had gathered from their observation the day before. But when they were alone together they had no hesitation about speaking their minds. "Some fellows could commit murder and get away with it," grumbled Tom. "Cheer up, you old grouch," chaffed Billy. "At any rate the prisoner didn't escape, and so there's no harm done." "And if Rabig is guilty he's got nothing from it but a sore head," put in Bart. "I don't feel dead sure that Rabig helped him," said Frank, "and yet the more I think it over, the more I'm inclined to think that Tom is right about it. Still, Rabig's entitled to the benefit of the doubt. I know how the Scotch jury felt when they brought in the verdict: 'Not guilty, but don't do it again.'"