Leper's isolated calm contrasts sharply with Brinker's energetic instincts for action. Leper's announcement that he has found the beaver dam, and even has photographs, so infuriates Brinker that he is determined to enlist at once. Ironically, though, it is Leper, rather than Brinker or Gene, who will be the first from their class to enlist in the war.
When Gene, inspired by Brinker's sudden decision, thinks about enlisting, his vision of the future remains unclear — more a school boy's dream than a resolve to take up arms. It expresses itself in the arresting image of the blue and white weave of his school clothes cut off sharply by military shears and replaced by new khaki threads, woven in a new, unknown design. The thrill of the unknown, the challenge of adventure, rise in Gene here, even as he tries to think about the deadly danger of war.
His friendship with Finny, after all, is deadly — and the fall has brought an end to peace at Devon, at least for him, anyway. So, under a starry sky that seems to sharpen his resolve, Gene is determined to face the moment as the war demands.
But when he opens his door, Gene suddenly finds Finny returned to Devon in good spirits, though with a heavily bandaged leg. Gene's "crisis" of choice about the war and his role in it evaporates as he faces his friend.
All of Gene's imaginative energy focused on the future now disappears before the present reality of Finny, who represents the essence of vibrant life. And so a life force confronts Gene just as he has decided on a course of action — military enlistment — dedicated to killing.
Gene realizes in this final scene of the chapter, then, that Finny — rather than the war — will be his testing ground, his field of honor, his moment of life and death.
