overtime.

There was trouble ahead, as the two Army boys discovered on awakening in
the morning.

CHAPTER IV

A COURT OF INQUIRY ORDERED

There were two morning newspapers published in the town; or, as some
people put it, "one and a quarter."

The _Tribune_ appealed to the more orderly element in the community. In
the _Tribune_ was an account of the police version of the night before,
to the effect that Bunny Hepburn and a gang had set upon Lieutenants
Overton and Terry, of the Regular Army, and that the two young officers
had given an excellent account of themselves in the encounter,
afterwards declining to prosecute the gangsters.

The _Sphere_, the other morning sheet, made its appeal to the rougher
element of the city. It was through this sheet that Orator Hepburn had
been able to acquire much of his local notoriety. Hepburn and Sayles,
the latter the proprietor of the _Sphere_, had been cronies for five
years. To Sayles the older Hepburn had gone, taking along with him his
"witnesses."

As was to be expected, the _Sphere_ attacked the two young officers,
giving wholly the Hepburn version of the affair.

"But this will not be the last of the matter," the _Sphere_ proclaimed
dramatically. "There are reliefs to be had from such outrages. Mr.
Hepburn has already taken the matter up with a strong hand. Through the
night two of our ablest local attorneys toiled at preparing the papers
in the case. A formal complaint has been drawn up, backed by the
testimony of the witnesses under oath, and all the papers in the case
are now on their way to Washington. The residents of this city will soon
be in a position to know whether such outrages may be safely committed
by officers of our Regular Army, a body of men organized supposedly for
the protection of the citizens of the country!"

"Well, wouldn't that blow your hat off?" demanded Lieutenant Noll, as he
and his chum went over the account published by the _Sphere_.

"It's evidently aimed with a view to blowing our heads off," muttered
Hal Overton.

"What talented liars there are in this world!" uttered Noll Terry, in
high disgust.

"They wouldn't do so much harm, though, if it weren't for the fact that
sometimes liars, under oath, manage to get themselves believed,"
returned Hal.

"Is anybody going to believe this rot?" insisted Noll.

"Some one in the War Department might, not knowing the local reputation
of the Hepburns."

"Well, the War Departme