marks and bow legs; they come early in life and a feller
ain't to blame for havin' 'em? Sam, you ain't sorry the boy's
volunteered, are you?"

"Sorry! I should say not! For one thing his doin' it makes my job
on the Exemption Board a mighty sight easier. There won't be any
row there with Phineas now."

"No-o, I thought 'twould help that. But that wan't the whole
reason, Sam."

"Reason for what? What do you mean?"

"I mean that wan't my whole reason for tellin' Leander he'd better
volunteer, better go up to Boston and enlist, same as he did. That
was part, but 'twan't all."

Captain Sam's eyes and mouth opened. He stared at the speaker in
amazement.

"You told him to volunteer?" he repeated. "You told him to go to
Boston and-- YOU did? What on earth?"

Jed's brush moved slowly down the wooden legs of his sailor man.

"Leander and I are pretty good friends," he explained. "I like him
and he--er--hum--I'm afraid that paint's kind of thick. Cal'late
I'll have to thin it a little."

Captain Sam condemned the paint to an eternal blister.

"Go on! go on!" he commanded. "What about you and Leander? Finish
her out. Can't you see you've got my head whirlin' like one of
those windmills of yours? Finish her OUT!"

Jed looked over his spectacles.

"Oh!" he said. "Well, Leander's been comin' in here pretty
frequent and we've talked about his affairs a good deal. He's
always wanted to enlist ever since the war broke out."

"He HAS?"

"Why, sartin. Just the same as you would, or--or I hope I would,
if I was young and--and," with a wistful smile, "different, and
likely to be any good to Uncle Sam. Yes, Leander's been anxious to
go to war, but his dad was so set against it all and kept hollerin'
so about the boy's bein' needed in the store, that Leander didn't
hardly know what to do. But then when he was drawn on the draft
list he came in here and he and I had a long talk. 'Twas
yesterday, after you'd told me about bein' put on the Board, you
know. I could see the trouble there'd be between you and Phineas
and--and--well, you see, Sam, I just kind of wanted that boy to
volunteer. I--I don't know why, but--" He looked up from his work
and stared dreamily out of the window. "I guess maybe 'twas
because I've been wishin' so that I could go myself--or--do
SOMETHIN' that was some good. So Leander and I talked and finally
he said, 'Well, by George, I WILL go.' And--and--well, I guess
that's all