“Hear ye!  Hear ye!” shouted the doctor’s son, in the midst of the hilarity that ensued.  “Hugo Mallin solves the whole problem of eugenics by destroying the field for eugenics!”

“The levity of a lot of mere unthinking privates who mistake themselves for sociological experts shall not deter me from finishing my speech,” pursued the manufacturer’s son.

“Speak on!”

“Listen to the fount of wisdom play!”

“A beer if you produce an idea!”

“War must come some day.  It must come if for no other reason than to stop the strikes, arouse patriotism, and give an impetus to industry.  An army of five millions on our side against the Browns’ three millions!  Of course, they won’t start it!  We shall have to take the aggressive; naturally, they’ll not.”

“And they’ll run, they’ll run, just as they always have” Eugene cried enthusiastically.

“You bet they will, or they’ll be mush for our bayonets!” said Pilzer, the butcher’s son.

“Will they?  Do you really think they will?” asked Hugo, drawing down the corners of his mouth in profound contemplation that was actually mournful.  “I wonder, now, I wonder if they can run any faster than I can?”

Everybody was laughing except him.  If he had laughed too, he would not have been funny.  His faint, look of surprise over their outburst only served to prolong it.

“Hugo, you’re immense!”

“You’re a scream!”

“But I am considering,” Hugo resumed, when there was silence.  “If both sides ran as fast as they could when the war began, it would be interesting to see which army reached home first.  Some of us might get out of breath, but nobody would be killed.”  He had to wait on another laugh before he could continue.  It takes little to amuse men in garrison if one knows how.  “I don’t want to be killed, and why should I want to kill strangers on the other side of the frontier?” He paused on the rising inflection of his question, a calm, earnest challenge in his eyes.  “I don’t know them.  I haven’t the slightest grudge against them.”

No grudge against the Browns—­against the ancient enemy!  The faces around were frowning, as if in doubt how to take him.

“What did you come into the army for, then?” called Pilzer, the butcher’s son.  “You didn’t have to, being an only son.  Talk that stuff to your officers!  They will let you out.  They don’t want any cowards like you!”

“Cowards!  Hold on, there!” said Eugene, who was very fond of Hugo.  He spoke in the even voice of his vast good nature, but he looked meaningly at the butcher’s son.

“Coward?  Is that the word, Jake?” Hugo inquired amiably.  “Now, maybe I am.  I don’t know.  But it wouldn’t prove that I wasn’t if I fought you any more than if I fought the strangers on the other side of the frontier.”

“Well, if you don’t want to fight, what are you in the army for?  That’s a fair question, isn’t it?” growled Pilzer, in an appeal to public opinion.