even told her how hard he had been and
how long it had taken him to forgive Velo.

So the days went on smoothly. Zaidos did not know how many; but one
morning there awoke in him a great longing for his adopted land. And
that happened to be the very morning when he heard something that might
have made him very unhappy, but did not.

The doctor came along.

"What are you going to do with yourself when we discharge you, young
man?" he demanded.

"I suppose I'll have to go back on the field," Zaidos replied.

"Don't you want to?" asked the doctor.

"I can't really say I do," said Zaidos regretfully. "You see I've
never had the chance to fight. I was lame when they put me at the
Hospital Corps work. At least my broken leg was tender. Now it's shot
up, and I won't be good for anything else but Red Cross jobs."

"I may as well tell you," said the doctor. "You will always be a
little lame, Zaidos. Not much, understand, but enough to bar you from
any work here. I'm sorry, son. We did our best, but that shin bone
didn't heal right. You have been given your 'honorable discharge.'"

For a little Zaidos was silent. No more running; no more jumping. It
was a little hard, but he thought of the wounds of others, and was
ashamed.

"Will I have to walk with a cane, doctor!" he asked.

"Oh, no," said the doctor. "Your limp will scarcely be noticeable."

"Then I guess I'll get on my job," said Zaidos, unconsciously quoting
the boys at school.

"What's that?" asked the doctor.

"Why," said Zaidos, "I planned to go back to New York after all this
was over, and study medicine."

"Couldn't do a better thing," said the doctor heartily. "That's the
best thing you could possibly do. Nurse Helen has told me something
about you, and I will say that I think you have planned wisely and
well. If you had ties of family in this part of the world, it might be
a different matter. No one has any right to carve out his destiny
without some reference to the people nearest him. 'Honor thy father
and thy mother' holds good to-day as well as it did when the old
patriarchs walked the earth. And I'm not sure it isn't needed now more
than it was then, when the scheme of life was simpler. Only now we
usually have a few sisters and brothers, and perhaps an unmarried aunt
or two to consider. But you are all alone, are you not?"

"Yes," said Zaidos. "I couldn't be more alone without being gone
myself. I have lots of friends