“Yes, he wouldn’t let me.”
“I thought he wouldn’t. That’s too bad after you came all the way here for that purpose. It will be a disappointment to your father, too.”
“He don’t know I came.”
“Don’t know you came! Why—say, boy, did you work this thing out yourself? Were you willing to do this?”
“Willing! I’d ’a’ crawled from Mount Hermon on my hands and knees to be allowed to do it. I want to save my father, Sergeant Anderson. And I want to help my country. I thought I was going to do both, and now I can’t do either.”
“That’s too bad!”
“Say, do you suppose I could enlist? The marshal suggested that I might enlist.”
“Why, yes, I suppose you could. How old are you?”
“Seventeen my last birthday.”