The cruise of the "Restless." "A real fighting bunch." Ensign Darrin at the wheel. "Look sharp there!" A suspicious craft sighted. The pursued motor boat refuses to lay to. The "Restless" swept by a volley of rifle shots. The battle is on. CHAPTER XIX--THE BRIBE OF A TRAITOR 198 "Fire!" commands Lieutenant Hal Overton. A woman's shriek. "Fix bayonets!" The stranger boarded. Mexicans ordered to surrender. A young woman on board. Contraband discovered in the hold. "We can fix it all with money." CHAPTER XX--AN OFFICER AND HIS HONOR 207 A bribe hurled into the offender's face. "I'll pitchfork that honor of yours." Ruggles makes a charge. What was found in Lieutenant Overton's holster. "It's a cowardly lie!" Hal faces disgrace. CHAPTER XXI--UNDER A DARK CLOUD 221 Hal's face turns ghastly. "Do you believe me guilty, sir?" Detained in camp on parole. "I'll fight every inch of the way." Word that the Mexicans are rising. American women in peril. Lieutenant Overton's bitter disappointment. CHAPTER XXII--THE SERGEANT WHO REMEMBERED 232 "Ye lop-sided shadow of a rookie!" Sorry he didn't throw the scoundrel overboard. Hal Overton is vindicated. Permission to join the rescue party. "Sound the recall." Stirring times ahead. CHAPTER XXIII--IN THE THICK OF THE RIOT 238 Troops ordered to Holmesville. Up the river at racing speed. "Sweethearts in peril." Flames in the sky. A lightning-like landing. "Forward on double quick!" "Charge!" shouts Lieutenant Overton. CHAPTER XXIV--"THE SOLDIERS ARE COMING!" 247 A path hewn with swords. A sharp, ugly clash. A woman's scream guides the three young officers. Just in time. Enraged Texans held in check. A double service wedding. Ready for the great war. Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants CHAPTER I THE LETTER FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT "Whew, but it's hot here!" grumbled Sergeant Noll Terry, of the United States Army. "That's an odd complaint to hear from a young man who served so actively for two years in the tropics," laughed Mrs. Overton, a short, plump, middle-aged matron. "Well, Mother, it is a hot day," put in Sergeant Hal Overton quietly. "Yes, it is," agreed Hal's mother, "though you two, who came from the Philippines the very picture of health can't feel the weather to-day much. New Jersey isn't in the tropics." Hal's mother said that with an air of finality. Her son and his chum had been through the most strenuous forms of active army service in Uncle Sam's colonial possessions, the Philippine Islands. If they could endure the heat in that tropical belt, even that day's broiling weather at home must seem cool by comparison.