"That's just one of our funny American ways of saying things,
Dick," he explained. "I didn't mean that, of course. But what I
do mean is that every-one over here in Europe seems to think that
there will be a big war sometime -- a bigger war than the world's
ever seen yet."

"Oh, yes!" Dick nodded his understanding, and grew more serious.
"My pater - he's a V. C., you know -- says that, too. He says
we'll have to fight Germany, sooner or later. And he seems to
think the sooner the better, too, before they get too big and
strong for us to have an easy time with them."

"They're too big now for any nation to have an easy time with
them," said Harry. "But you see what I mean now, don't you, Dick?
We Boy Scouts aren't soldiers in any way. But we do learn to do
the things a soldier has to do, don't we?"

"Yes, that's true," said Dick. "But we aren't supposed to think
of that."

"Of course not, and it's right, too," agreed Harry. "But we learn
to be obedient. We learn discipline. And we get to understand
camp life, and the open air, and all the things a soldier has to
know about, sooner or later. Suppose you were organizing a
regiment. Which would you rather have -- a thousand men who were
brave and willing, but had never camped out, or a thousand who had
been Boy Scouts and knew about half the things soldiers have to
learn? Which thousand men would be ready to go to the front
first?"