ned heel upon a
self-starter that would whir but an impotent protest. He glared up at
Wilbur as the latter came to rest beside the car.

"Well, what now?" He spoke impatiently.

"I'm going to enlist; I thought I would tell you."

Sharon pointed the heavy brows at him with a thumb and uttered a
disparaging "Humph!" Then he appeared to forget the announcement, and
pressed again on the self-starter, listening above its shrill song for
the deeper rumble of the engine. This did not ensue, and he shifted his
heel, turning a plaintive eye upon the young man.

"She don't seem to excite," he said. "I've tried and tried, and I can't
excite her."

It was an old, old story to Wilbur Cowan.

"Press her again," he directed. Sharon pressed and the other raptly
listened. "Ignition," he said.

He lifted the hood on one side and with a pair of pliers manipulated
what Sharon was never to know as anything but her gizzard, though the
surgeon, as he delicately wrought, murmured something about platinum
points.

"Try her!" Sharon tried her.

"Now she excites!" he exploded, gleefully, as the hum of the motor took
up the shrill whir of the self-starter. He stopped the thing and bent a
reproachful gaze upon Wilbur.

"Every one else leaving me--even that Elihu Titus. I never thought you
would, after the way we've stood together in this town. I had a right to
expect something better from you. I'd like to know how I'm goin' to get
along without you. You show a lot of gratitude, I must say."

"Well, I thought--"

"Oh, I knew you'd go--I expected that!"

"Yes, sir," said Wilbur.

"You wouldn't been any good if you hadn't. Even that Elihu Titus went."

"Yes, sir," said Wilbur. He had been waiting to ask Sharon's opinion
about the only troubling element in his decision. This seemed the
moment. "You don't suppose--you don't think perhaps the war will be
stopped or anything, just as I get over there?"

Sharon laboured with a choice bit of sarcasm.

"No, I guess it'll take more'n you to stop it, even with that Elihu
Titus going along. Of course, some spy may get the news to 'em that
you've started, and they may say, 'Why keep up the struggle if this
Cowan boy's goin' in against us?' But my guess is they'll brazen it out
for a month or so longer. Of course they'll be scared stiff."

Wilbur grinned at him, then spoke gravely.

"You know what I mean--Merle. He says the plain people will never allow
this war to go on, because they've