“It was while I was attached to No. 97 General Hospital,” he said. “Know No. 97, Mackintosh? No. That’s a pity. It’s a place which would just suit you. Patients wakened every morning at five to have their faces washed. Discipline polished till you could see your face in it, and so many rules and regulations that you can’t cross a room without tripping over one. The lists and card indexes that are kept going in that place, and the forms that are filled in! You’d glory in it, Mackintosh. But it didn’t suit my temperament.” “I believe you,” said Mackintosh grimly. “It was while I was there,” said the padre, “that Biimy came down the line and was admitted to the hospital with a cushy wound in the fleshy part of his arm. He’d have been well in three weeks and back with his battalion in a month, if it hadn’t been for the doctors. It’s entirely owing to them that he’s a deserter now.” “Malingered, I suppose,” said Mackintosh. “Got back to England by shamming shell shock and was given his discharge. He wouldn’t have pulled it off if I’d been there.” “You’ve guessed wrong,” said the padre. “It wasn’t a case of malingering. As nearly as possible it was the exact opposite. The doctors tried to make the poor fellow out much worse than he really was. “I don’t believe it,” said Mackintosh. “As a matter of fact,” said the padre, “the mistake--you’ll hardly deny that it was a mistake when you hear the story--arose through too strict attention to discipline, that and the number of lists and returns that were made out. It doesn’t do to rely too much on lists, and there is such a thing as overdoing discipline. “What happened was this. One evening, when Binny had been in the hospital about a week, two orderlies came to his bed with a stretcher. They told him they were going to carry him down to the mortuary and put him into his coffin. Binny, of course, thought they were making some new kind of joke, and laughed. But the orderlies were perfectly serious. They said his name was on the list of those who had died during the day and they had no choice except to obey orders and put him into a coffin. They showed Binny the list, all nicely typed out, and there was no mistake about it Binny’s name, number, regiment, and religion were all there.