The work on the railroad exhausts the boys, and the sight of the first train to pass — a troop train carrying young recruits — makes the students feel childish. Talk turns to training programs and recruitment — activities much more meaningful, they decide, than school. When Quackenbush insists that he will stay at Devon the whole year, the others sneer at him and question his patriotism.
As the returning students reach the school grounds, Leper appears, delighted with his day's skiing and proud of the photographs he has shot of a beaver dam. Protective of his friend, Gene congratulates him, but Brinker barely contains his annoyance. When they are alone, Brinker declares impulsively to Gene that he is going to enlist immediately.
Excited by Brinker's sudden decision and determined to face the challenge of the war himself, Gene bounds up to his room. But when he opens the door, he finds that Finny is back, and the plans about enlisting suddenly fade away.
