Noll finished his last few bites of dessert, Hal his coffee. Then both young men rose, quietly crossing the dining room. The soldier boys, as they moved with erect carriage and easy motion, were full of a soldierly grace of appearance that they did not begin to suspect. Nor did they imagine that strangers in the hotel dining room were paying any heed to them until they heard a man's voice say approvingly: "Regulars." "Yes; they're the real thing," agreed another male voice. "You'll know a regular wherever you see one. The men of the regular Army can't be beat." "You sent for us, sir?" asked Hal, pausing beside the lieutenant's table and saluting. "Yes," nodded Prescott. "Follow me from the dining room. I have something to say to you." Prescott and the stranger passed out ahead. Hal and Noll kept in their wake, about fifteen feet to the rear. Lieutenant Prescott and the stranger entered an elevator, the soldier boys following. The young officer led the way to his room. "Now, then," resumed Prescott, wheeling about on the soldier boys, "I have had a very peculiar request made to me to-night--by this gentleman." The stranger nodded. "Mason City," continued the lieutenant, "is usually a very orderly place. There are only two policemen here--a night and a day officer. Besides, there is one peace officer--Deputy Sheriff Coates. Now, it happens that Coates is ill in bed, and his physician absolutely forbids him to leave his bed inside of a week." "That's right," nodded the stranger. "And the policemen are needed on the street. Besides, I am informed that the two local policemen are neither of them quite the sort of men who are fitted for some work that has come up." "Also quite right," nodded the stranger. "Therefore," went on the young lieutenant, "Deputy Sheriff Coates, hearing that soldiers are in town, has sent to me asking my help in arresting one of the most dangerous characters at present at liberty anywhere in the United States. Now, if I am to undertake this work, I must have assistance. The question comes, men----" Lieutenant Prescott paused, scrutinizing keenly the faces of the soldier boys. "Are you men ready to aid me in arresting this desperate character, who is as deadly as a rattler, and always ready to turn himself loose with a pair of guns?" "I am very sorry, sir," replied Hal, saluting, "that the lieutenant should feel it at all necessary to ask the question." "I am obliged to ask you," answered Prescott, "and also to inform you that you are both at liberty to refuse, for this is not legally the duty of a soldier under the circumstances. You may refuse without subjecting yourselves to criticism." "But we have no thought of refusing, sir," Hal answered, not even considering it necessary to glance at his bunkie. "We'll follow the lieutenant anywhere, and do anything that he directs." "But, my men, you and I may all three of us be killed in this enterprise."