skin.'

He laughed. 'You do yourself an injustice. What about the forward
observation post at the Lone Tree? You forgot about the whole skin
then.'

I felt myself getting red. 'That was all rot,' I said, 'and I can't
think who told you about it. I hated the job, but I had to do it to
prevent my subalterns going to glory. They were a lot of fire-eating
young lunatics. If I had sent one of them he'd have gone on his knees
to Providence and asked for trouble.'

Sir Walter was still grinning.

'I'm not questioning your caution. You have the rudiments of it, or
our friends of the Black Stone would have gathered you in at our last
merry meeting. I would question it as little as your courage. What
exercises my mind is whether it is best employed in the trenches.'

'Is the War Office dissatisfied with me?' I asked sharply.

'They are profoundly satisfied. They propose to give you command of
your battalion. Presently, if you escape a stray bullet, you will no
doubt be a Brigadier. It is a wonderful war for youth and brains. But
... I take it you are in this business to serve your country, Hannay?'

'I reckon I am,' I said. 'I am certainly not in it for my health.'

He looked at my leg, where the doctors had dug out the shrapnel
fragments, and smiled quizzically.

'Pretty fit again?' he asked.

'Tough as a sjambok. I thrive on the racket and eat and sleep like a
schoolboy.'

He got up and stood with his back to the fire, his eyes staring
abstractedly out of the window at the wintry park.

'It is a great game, and you are the man for it, no doubt. But there
are others who can play it, for soldiering today asks for the average
rather than the exception in human nature. It is like a big machine
where the parts are standardized. You are fighting, not because you
are short of a job, but because you want to help England. How if you
could help her better than by commanding a battalion--or a brigade--or,
if it comes to that, a division? How if there is a thing which you
alone can do? Not some _embusque_ business in an office, but a thing
compared to which your fight at Loos was a Sunday-school picnic. You
are not afraid of danger? Well, in this job you would not be fighting
with an army around you, but alone. You are fond of tackling
difficulties? Well, I can give you a task which will try all your
powers. Have you anything to say?'

My heart was beginning to thump uncomfortably. Sir Walter was