As the group broke up in the dim light of the dying embers, J.W.
stumbled into Joe Carbrook, and the two headed for the tents together.
They had been on a much more friendly footing since Thursday.

"Say, J.W.," said Joe, abruptly, "what's the matter with me? I came to
this place without knowing just why; thought I'd just have a good time,
I suppose; but here I am being bumped up against something new and big
every little while, until I wonder if it's the same world that I was
living in before I came. Do you suppose anybody else feels that way? Is
it the place? Or the people? Or what?"

"I don't just know," said J.W., trying to keep from showing his
surprise. "I feel a good deal that way myself. I think it's maybe that
this is the first time we've ever been forced to look squarely at some
of the things that seem so natural here. At home it's easy to dodge. You
know that, only you've dodged one way and I've done it another."

"But do you feel different, the way I do, J.W.? Do you feel like saying
to yourself: 'Looka here, Joe Carbrook, quit being a fool. See what you
could do if you settled down to getting ready for something real. Like
being a doctor, now.' Do _you_ feel that way? You don't know it, but
I've always thought I could be a doctor, if I could see anything in it.
And then the other side of me speaks up and says: 'Joe Carbrook, don't
kid yourself. You know you haven't got the nerve to try, even if you had
the grit to stick it through.' Is it that way with you, J.W.? You've
paid more attention to religion and all that than I ever did. And what
you said on Thursday about the 'Big Idea' has kept me guessing ever
since."

"No, Joe, my trouble's not like yours. I know I can't be a doctor, nor a