Then they stepped into the road, where they halted hardly more than a dozen feet away from the screened captain.
"It's a pity you wouldn't have your nerve," said the stranger, to Mock.

"You tell me you hate your captain." "Wouldn't you, if he had treated you like he treated me ?" demanded Mock heatedly.
"Surely I would," agreed the stranger.
"And there's Holmes's friend, that fellow Prescott, who, he, you say, would spend all his time looking into anything that happened to Holmes.

You could settle with them both, and then there'd be no one left to worry about." "Say, just what are you thinking of doing to 'em ?" demanded Mock, in a tone of uneasy suspicion.
"There are two things that could be done to them," continued the civilian.

"One would be to put them out of the way altogether, and the other would be to bring disgrace upon them so that they'd be kicked out of the Army.

That would break their hearts, wouldn't it ?" "Yes," muttered Mock, "but you're talking dreams, neighbor.