"Halt your prisoners here, Corporal, and watch 'em until Captain Cortland gives his orders about them," directed Hal. Then the young sergeant turned down the street leading to officers' quarters, for the administrative office of the post had been closed for hours. Two minutes later Sergeant Hal Overton was detailing what had happened him to the post commander. "But wait before you go any further, Sergeant," cried Captain Cortland, interrupting his tale. "I want the other officers to hear the whole of this villainous business." By the use of the telephone the other five commissioned officers on duty at Fort Franklin were soon summoned. "Now, begin again, Sergeant Overton," ordered Cortland, when all the officers had gathered in his parlor. The Army boy retold the entire story, leaving out nothing--not even, the reader may be sure, what Vicente Tomba had said to Hal about Draney's connection with the natives. "Ray, you're officer of the day," broke in the post commander suddenly. "Go out to Corporal Hyman and see that he turns Tomba and Cerverra over at the guard house. Instruct the sergeant of the guard to make absolutely certain that the prisoners have no chance to escape. Also, Ray, you will send Corporal Hyman and his four men back to Sergeant Terry. Direct the sergeant to keep his whole detachment on the ground to-night, setting a regular guard. Hampton, as you're in charge of the commissary and quartermaster details at this post, the first thing in the morning you will make sure that Sergeant Terry's detachment is supplied with rations enough for breakfast. Early in the morning I shall look further into that plague spot of Cerverra's. Now, Sergeant Overton, continue your story." When it was finished the officers sat in silence for a few moments. "Well, gentlemen," inquired Captain Cortland at last, "have you anything to offer?" "Are you going to arrest the man, Draney?" inquired Captain Freeman, of C Company. "Frankly," replied Cortland, "that is what is puzzling me. What do you think, Freeman?" "We cannot doubt Sergeant Overton, and he tells us that Tomba boasted that Draney is in league with the natives in some conspiracy here." "It is a matter of evidence," replied Captain Cortland musingly. "Not one of you gentlemen would doubt Sergeant Overton's word on any question of fact on which he has knowledge. But his report is based only on what Vicente Tomba told him. Now, at the test, not one of you gentlemen doubts that Tomba would deny it all point blank. I believe that Draney is a scoundrel. I never liked the looks of the man from the first moment, but I can't arrest him on account of my bad opinion of him. Nor would any military or civil court hold him on account of what Sergeant Overton says Tomba told him. That evidence would not satisfy the requirements of any court of trial." "Sir, is Draney really an American or an Englishman?" inquired Lieutenant Hampton.