t of the service, then
I'd do my whole duty," went on Lieutenant Prescott. "But I simply can't
believe him guilty, and so I'm prepared to help him at any time when
there's the slightest chance."

"May I tell Corporal Overton that, sir?" asked Noll eagerly.

"Yes; but caution him not to mention to others what I have said to you.
You are also at liberty to tell Overton that Captain Cortland is wholly
convinced of his innocence, and so, I know, is Lieutenant Hampton. But
some of the men in the company, and more especially in the squad room,
are holding aloof from Corporal Overton, are they not?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that they are doing it in a mean way, sir; but
of course soldiers hate thieves, and so the merest taint of a suspicion
serves to make some of the men feel rather shy about having anything
unnecessary to do with Corporal Overton."

"Too bad!" murmured Lieutenant Prescott. Then, in his usual official
tone:

"That is all, Corporal Terry."

Noll saluted and left the inner office. Almost immediately afterward
Lieutenant Prescott sauntered out.

In the meantime, Hal, after some brisk practice at wig-wagging, was on
his way back to barracks with Sergeant Hupner.

"You're going to make a real signalman, one of these days, lad,"
remarked the sergeant, kindly. "You have the speed, and you don't lose
any of the clearness of your signaling when you go fast."

"It's great work," smiled Corporal Hal. "Just for the moment it makes me
almost sorry that I didn't enlist in the signal corps."

"The infantry is the real branch of the service--the real fighting arm,"
returned Sergeant Hupner.

"Yes; I know it, and that's the principal reason why I chose the
infantry before enlisting."

Together the sergeant and his young corporal entered the barracks,
stepping into their own squad room.

There the very first person they met was Private William Green, looking,
still, as though he wanted to burst into tears. Green hadn't smiled
once since meeting with his big loss.

"Good afternoon, Sergeant," was Green's greeting. He didn't seem to see
Hal at all, a fact that the boyish soldier noted instantly. It cut like
a whip to know that Green really suspected his young corporal.

Hal stepped down the length of the squad room. Some of the men greeted
him, though none very enthusiastically.

Then Noll came in, drawing his chum aside and detailing the interview
with Lieutenant Prescott.

That brightened Hal Overton a goo