"
"How did you know I'd lost my horse?"
"Oh, I'm a mind reader. I can tell you a lot now. You carry your
dispatch in the left-hand pocket of your waistcoat, just over your heart.
And it hasn't been long, either, since you lost your horse, perhaps not
more than an hour."
Haskell stared at him, but Harry's face was innocent. Nevertheless he
had read Haskell's name and regiment on his canteen, cut there with his
own knife. It was a mere guess that he was a dispatch bearer, but he
had located the dispatch, because at the mention of the word "message"
the man's hand had involuntarily gone to his left breast to see if the
dispatch were still there. Boots with little dirt on them indicated that
he had been riding.
"A mind reader!" said Haskell, with suspicion. "What business has a mind
reader in this war?"
"He could be of enormous value. If he were a real mind reader he could
tell his general exactly what the opposing general intended to do.
I'm employed at a gigantic salary for that particular purpose."
"I guess you're trying to be funny. Why do you carry both a rifle and a
shotgun?"
"In order to hit the target with one, if the other misses. I always use
the rifle first, because if the bullet doesn't get home the shotgun,
spreading its charge over a much wider area, is likely to do something.
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