Then he said, earnestly, "After
all, old man, it wasn't an officers' war and it wasn't a privates' war,
was it? Any more than it was the war of America, or England, or France,
or Australia, or Canada--it was _our_ war. And that, I guess, is the
main reason why it all came out as it did."
"Now," said John, with hearty enthusiasm, "you are talking sense."
"But it is all very different now, John," said Charlie, slowly.
"Millsburgh is not France and the Mill is not the United States Army."
"No," returned John, "and yet there is not such a lot of difference,
when you come to think it out."
"We can't disguise the facts," said Captain Martin stubbornly.
"We are not going to disguise anything," retorted John. "I had an idea
how you would feel over my promotion, and that is why I wanted you out
here to-day. You've got to get this 'it's all very different now' stuff
out of your system. So go ahead and shoot your facts."
"All right," said Charlie. "Let's look at things as they are. It was
all very well for us to moon over what we would do if we ever got back
home when we knew darned well our chances were a hundred to one against
our ever seeing the old U.S. again. We spilled a lot of sentiment about
comradeship and loyalty and citizenship and equality and all that,
but--"
"Can your chatter!" snapped John.
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