"I'll try to get back to the original purpose in setting up Duncannon as quickly as possible," Bennington said. "Dr. Thornberry agreed that five days is the maximum time his sections need to complete the analysis of a prisoner and decide what prison he should go to. After that, we will have sound reason to start charging the individual states for each day we have to keep their consignment." "Complicated," Giles said. "I mean, the bookkeeping." "Not at all. I'll either hold the next top-sergeant that comes through here or borrow one from Carlisle or Indiantown Gap. He can set up a sort of morning-report system, and when the states learn they will have to pay us to handle the men _they_ should be feeding, we will soon see ... well, there won't be six hundred and fifty men, women and children stuffed into barracks designed to hold three hundred and fifty." Bennington had spoken calmly and he lifted his glass casually. But over the rim of his drink he caught the eye of another old soldier. Ferguson, who had been a private when Bennington had been only a captain in Korea, eased himself to within earshot. The two had risen in rank and grade together. Thirty-three years had taught them the value of an unobtrusive witness to the general's conversations. * * * * * "But with personnel changing so rapidly--frankly, I didn't understand your reference to a replo-depot," Culpepper confessed. "A replo-depot," Bennington said, calling deep on his reserve of patience, "is the place to which all persons called up for military service must go first. There, they go through a process similar to the one we use here: a complete physical, a complete mental, a complete skill-testing, all used to decide where the man himself can best be used--or imprisoned. Then they are forwarded to that assignment." Culpepper nodded, but he still seemed puzzled. "You could waste an awful lot of men on just handling the food and equipment that such a command needs, unless you used the men passing through," Bennington went on. "But, if you have a small permanent cadre who know what to do and how to do it, they can handle large groups of untrained men. "And you'll not only save money, you'll give these men something to do while they are here," he added. When Giles and Culpepper exchanged glances, Bennington was immediately and almost totally certain that his explanation had not been needed. "Seems to me you could economize even more if a part of that permanent cadre were trusties," Giles said. "I would think so," Culpepper said, "but of course you would have to pick the men very carefully." Giles approved of that idea. "Responsible men, not hardened criminals. Men who once held a prominent position in their communities, but made a mistake and now would sincerely like a chance to redeem themselves."