-camp noticed that his chief seemed strangely
preoccupied. The occasion was a toss between Sweden and Finland as to
the possession of four large rocks lying in the sea at the head of the
Gulf of Bothnia, just off the Finno-Swedish frontier. These rocks, just
south of the Arctic circle, contained no population other than sea
gulls, but had been warmly claimed by both nations for years. And since
the weather in Scandinavia in January is miserable, the Finns and Swedes
had sagely decided to hold the toss in Malaga, which was as far south as
they could go and still be in Europe.

In public, General O'Reilly was himself--charming, dependable, cheerful.
He carried out the toss as gracefully as he had all the others, and he
made a winning speech at the banquet given by the Finns that night to
celebrate their acquisition of the four sub-Arctic rocks.

But the A.D.C. was not deluded and later, on the flight back to
Washington, he observed that General O'Reilly was unusually abstracted
and pensive, lost in thought. But since a major does not ask a
lieutenant general about such matters, he kept silent.

The fact was that the general had now reached sixty-five, and in the
American Army, sixty-five is retirement age. As the ocean fled away
under the racing plane, he was remembering a scene the week before in
the office of the Army Chief of Staff.

"It's up to you, Terry," the Chief of Staff had said. "You know
perfectly well that the President is willing, even eager, to keep you on
past the retirement age. You're a big man in the world now. You can stay
on the active list as long as you want. If necessary, he'll ask a
special law, and there won't be one vote against it."

Then the general remembered his wife: "You've done enough, darling. It's
time we had a real permanent home for once in our lives. That garden for
me, those Aberdeen Angus for you--remember? You've traveled too much;
you've never really gotten over that malaria. Darling, you need a rest.
You've earned it."

The general gazed out the plane window, trying to make up his mind. Then
suddenly he chuckled. The A.D.C. saw him pull a leather case out of
his pocket and watched, puzzled, as a golden coin spun briefly in the
air.

The general caught it on the back of his left hand, covering it with
his right. Then he removed the right, looked at it.

He chuckled again.

* * * * *

When General O'Reilly retired the following week, the President