"Am I to be flimflammed, after paying the money in good faith?" demanded Ruggles. "See here, Captain, I drew twenty thousand dollars, in twenty bills, at the bank this afternoon. That I can easily prove, of course. Nor can any one on earth prove that I have spent any of that money, for, as it happens, I had the cashier at the bank take the numbers of the thousand-dollar bills. In this envelope, sir, you will find fifteen of the bills left. The numbers of the missing bills can be proved, and the missing bills you will find in the possession of your lieutenant."
"It's a cowardly lie!" blazed thunderstruck Hal, leaping forward. But Captain Foster pushed him gently back.
"I haven't a doubt that it's a lie, Overton, my boy," replied Foster. "Yet don't get too excited, or try to use violence on your accuser. Remember that I am simply bound to hear any complaint that may be preferred against any officer in my command. Be cool, Overton, and be sure that no harm can come to you if you are innocent, as I am certain that you are. Here is your envelope, Mr. Ruggles. I have looked over the contents, which are, as you state, fifteen one-thousand-dollar bills."
"And the other bills you will find on this lieutenant. Though, wait a moment. He has just been in his tent. He may have hidden the money there."
"If it's true that you handed this lieutenant money, Mr. Ruggles, what did he do with it when he first received it?" asked Foster.
"I don't know, Captain, except that he went forward into the stateroom to look it over. He didn't have it in his hand when he came out of the stateroom."
"Easy, Overton, lad," admonished the captain. "Nothing is proved by calling another hard names. Take that chair, Mr. Overton, and wait until Sergeant Raney returns."
Pausing by the chair, before dropping into it, Hal faced his captain to say:
"I beg, sir, that you will order a search at once. I offer my person, my baggage--everything to be searched."
"I will have Sergeant Raney do it as soon as he returns," Captain Foster assured the angry young officer. "Raney is a wholly discreet fellow."
In time Sergeant Raney returned. He looked somewhat surprised when, after being taken into the officers' tent with his two superiors and Ruggles, Raney was ordered to begin a careful search of the lieutenant. Captain Foster stood where he could instantly have detected any effort that the Army boy might have made to throw any thing away.