McCalloway for the first time traced out in full detail the plan that he had conceived for Boone: the fantastic dream of his pilgrimage in one generation along the transitional road his youthful nation had travelled since its birth. As he listened, the young man's eyes kindled with imagination and gratitude difficult to express. He had been, he thought, ambitious to a fault, but for him his preceptor had been far more ambitious. The horizons of his aspiration widened under such confidence, but he could only say brokenly, "You're setting me a mighty big task, sir. If I can do any part of it, I'll owe it all to you." "We aren't here to compliment each other, my boy," replied McCalloway bluntly. "But if I've made a mistake in my judgment, I am not yet prepared to admit it. You owe me nothing. I was alone, without family, without ties. I was here with a broken life--and you gave me renewed interest. But that couldn't have gone on, I think, if you hadn't been in the main what I thought you--if you hadn't had in you the makings of a man and a gentleman." He broke off and cleared his throat loudly. Boone, too, found the moment a trying one, and he thrust his hands deep in his trousers pockets and said nothing. The uprights that supported his life's structure seemed, just then, withdrawn without warning. "You know, when I was offered service in China, I declined--and you know why," McCalloway reminded him. "I should do the same thing today, except that now I think you can stand on your own legs. I take it you no longer need me in the same sense that you did then--and the call that comes to me is not an unworthy one." "I reckon, sir--it's military?" "It's at least advisory, in the military sense. My boy, it pains me not to be able to take you into my full confidence--but I can't. I can't even tell you where I am going." "You--" the question hung a moment on the next words--"you aim to come back--sometime?" "God granting me a safe conclusion, I shall come back ... and the thought of you will be with me in my absence ... the confidence in you ... the hope for you." There was again a long silence, then McCalloway said: "I came here to discuss it with you. I have declined to give a positive answer until we could do that." Boone wheeled, and his head came up. He felt suddenly promoted to the responsible status of a counsellor. There was now no tremor in his voice, except the thrill of his young and straightforward courage. "You say it's not unworthy work, sir. There can't be any question. You've _got_ to go. If you hesitated, I'd know full well I was spoiling your life." Later, side by side, they tramped the muddy turnpikes between the rich acres of farms where thoroughbreds were foaled and trained. "I have talked with Colonel Wallifarro," announced the soldier at length. "Next fall he wants you to come to Louisville and finish reading law in his office."