Mortimer hastened to find Evans and ascertain the truth.
“Why didn’t you tell me, you great chump?” he said.
“You seemed to take it for granted that I’d been making a fool of myself, and I suppose that made me sore. Anyway, I didn’t feel like going into explanations with those other fellows looking on.”
“Well, I’m going into explanations just as quick as I can,” said Mortimer warmly.
“That’s mighty white of you, Sam,” said Evans, “but don’t make too much fuss over it.”
Mortimer lost no time in telling all who had heard his sharp rebuke—and more too—the truth of the matter.
3
The next year Evans and Mortimer were freshmen together in college. The friendship between them was firmly established, but in the larger number of boys with whom they were thrown the divergence of their tastes caused them to see less and less of each other. Mortimer was universally liked and socially prominent. Altogether he was a distinguished figure in his class. Evans devoted himself assiduously to scientific study, and in his leisure time his strong love of outdoor life usually led him away from, rather than toward, the haunts of men. For this reason, as well as because of his reserved and retiring disposition, he was socially comparatively obscure, though respected and beloved by the few with whom he became intimate.
Few would have supposed that one so obviously a leader as Mortimer could ever want to lean for support in any exigency of life on one younger than himself. Yet there were times when he felt depressed or when his philosophy of life seemed clouded with doubts. At such times he was apt to stroll over to Evans’s room where the two friends would have a “heart-to-heart” talk, often lasting well into the night; and always the clouds of confusion or doubt would disappear.
The spring following their entrance into college came that great turning-point in history, when in April, 1917, America entered the war. Mortimer enrolled in the first Plattsburg Camp where he applied himself so well to his training for the army that, in spite of being only twenty years old, he won the commission of first lieutenant. After many months in a training camp he was promoted to captain and sent overseas. His company continued in training in France till the last two months of the war when it was sent into action in the Argonne. Mortimer served with distinction and won an enviable citation.