“Home and to the store,” replied Dick.  “I just saw the postman leaving.  Come along.”

As Dick and his chum entered, both his father and mother were behind the counter.

“Dr. Davidson and his wife are in the back room,” announced Mrs. Prescott.  “They would like to see you, Dick.”

“Oh, your new pastor and his wife?  Will you excuse me, and wait for me a few minutes, Greg?” asked Dick.

Holmes, nodding, picked up a magazine and seated himself.  It was twenty minutes ere Dick came out from that back room.  Then the chums started out for another stroll.

“Where are you going now?” asked Greg, suddenly, realizing that his chum was walking at an almost spurting gait.

“In looking over my mail,” replied Dick grimly, “I found a letter from Lawyer Griffin.”

“What does he want, You don’t owe any money, here or anywhere else.”

“Griffin wrote me that he wanted to see me about a case that has been placed in his hands,” replied Prescott quietly.

Greg started, then changed color.

“Dick,” he demanded, “do you know what the lawyer’s business is about?”

“The lawyer’s letter doesn’t state any more than I have told you.”

“Dick, that hound Dodge must be up to some trick!”

“I imagine that’s the answer,” replied Cadet Prescott quietly.

“And you’re going to see the lawyer?”

“Yes.”

“Humph!” muttered Greg.  “I know what I’d do.  I’d make the lawyer come to see me.”

“But I prefer going to his office.”

“Right away?”

“As soon as I can get there.”

“And you want me with you?”

“Most decidedly, Greg.  I don’t care to go into the lawyer’s office without a competent witness.”

“Then I’m yours, old fellow.”

“I know that, Greg.”

Despite himself Holmes began to feel decidedly uneasy.

“What on earth can Dodge be up to?” muttered Greg.  “He threatened a libel prosecution one day last month.  Can it be that he has found people who can be bribed to perjure themselves, and that he is going to make his hint good?”

“It half looks that way,” assented Dick.

“Then may a plague seize the cur!” cried Greg, vehemently.  “Why, if the fellow can buy other people into making out a case of libel against you-----”

“I might be convicted, and that conviction would cut short my Army career,” replied Prescott as quietly as ever.

Greg stopped short in his walk, staring aghast at his chum.

“Why, can Dodge be scoundrel enough for that?” he gasped.

“The best way to judge a man, like a horse, is by the record of his past performances,” responded Prescott as quietly as ever.

“So that unutterable cur, since he couldn’t remain in the Army, is determined that you shan’t, either!  Dick, old ramrod, I’m shaking all over with indignation and contempt, and you’re as cool as an old colonel going under fire again for the thousandth time!”