His protégé, removing disconsolate gaze from the dusty chromos on the
office walls, did not require verbal report; Captain Wass's demeanor
told all.
"And you couldn't expect much of anything else," declared the old
man. "I made the best talk I could for you after you had finished your
testimony and had gone out. But it was no use, son! The department has
been laying for a victim. Both of us have known that right along. They
have soaked it to you good and proper."
"How long am I suspended for?" faltered Mayo.
"That's the point! Indefinitely. You were meat. Everybody watching the
case. They trimmed you."
Mayo set his hands into his thick hair, propped his head, and stared at
the floor.
"Indefinitely doesn't mean forever, but there ain't much comfort in
that. I'll tell you what it does mean, boy. It means that if there has
been crooked work we've got to show it up in order to reinstate you.
And now get a good brace on yourself. I've taken a peek in at the United
States court."
The young man, without lifting his head, gave the veteran a piteous
side-glance.
"Fletcher Fogg is buzzing around the outside of that hive. He has
Burkett along for an understrapper. They are marshaling in witnesses
before the grand jury--those men from the Warren, and you know what
they'll say, of course! Your mates and quartermasters, too! Mayo,
they're going to railroad you to Atlanta penitentiary. They have put
something over on you because you are young and they figured that you'd
be a little green. It seemed queer to me when Fogg was so mighty nice to
you all of a sudden. But they don't lay off a man like Jacobs and put in
a new man just to be nice. They either felt they couldn't work Jacobs,
or else they felt a green man would give 'em a good excuse for what
happened."
"But they couldn't arrange to have a schooner--"
"That was probably more than they figured on. But as long as it has
happened they're going to use it to best advantage. You're going to have
both tin cans tied to you, son. Every cussed bit of influence is going
to be used against you. Poor devils on the outside, like you and I,
don't understand just how slick the ways can be greased. Mayo, I'm going
to give you good advice. Duck out!"
"Run away like a confessed criminal? That's the advice Fogg gave me. I
don't think your advice is good, Captain Wass. I won't run away."