sit your
home."

They entered the big, dingy room of the police station which had been
transformed into a sort of recruiting station. The officer in charge
was an overbearing First Lieutenant who was overworked, tired and
irritable. He had come from a distant part of Greece, and the name of
Zaidos carried no weight with him. He shook his head when Zaidos made
his request. He even smiled a little. "Too thin, too thin!" he said.
"I should say that all the mothers and fathers, and most of the uncles
and aunts and cousins in the world are ill," he sneered. "No, you
can't go. Get back there in line and wait for your squad to be
outfitted."

Zaidos shrugged his shoulders and obeyed, well knowing that, once in
uniform, even that display of feeling would be absolutely out of order.
He had been too long in a military school to misunderstand military
procedure, and he knew that whatever queer chance had placed him in his
present position, the thing was done now. He was to see real fighting.

Zaidos had a lion's heart and was absolutely ignorant of fear, but he
worried when he thought of the possible effect on his father. He, poor
man, would feel that his natural wish to behold his only son once more
had placed the boy in a position of the gravest danger; indeed, in the
path of almost certain death. What the effect of this knowledge would
be on his health, Zaidos trembled to consider. But he was powerless to
avoid the shock to his father, and once more shrugging his shoulders he
stepped into line.

After a tedious delay, during which the men and boys who were
unaccustomed to any sort of drill shifted uneasily from foot to foot,
shuffled, twisted, and fretted generally, while Zaidos alone stood
easily at attention, the order was given for the squad to go into
another room.

Here they were registered, examined physically, and equipped with
uniforms. Then they were finally taken to the mess hall and provided
with a wholesome, plain meal which they proceeded to enjoy to the
utmost. Zaidos could not eat. He toyed with the food, his quick brain
ever planning some way by which he could get to his father. The more
he thought of it the more it seemed to be his duty to do so at _any_
cost. But he seemed surrounded by barriers. He could not see a way
clear. So he resigned himself for the present, and marched to the
dormitory where his squad was quartered. It had been a trying and
exhausting day for everyone and his