Routing table question

[Arcady Genkin <a.genkin@utoronto.ca>]

Hi all:

I'm reading "TCP/IP Administration" by O'Reily, and have a question on 
the routing table on my Debian box. It's quite simple:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface
209.226.71.0    0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 eth1
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 eth0
0.0.0.0         209.226.71.1    0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 eth1

I have 2 nics in my computer. eth0 is connected to
another computer (local net), and has IP 192.168.1.2, and another one
is connected to the internet with DHCP.

My question is: why is the local network bound to default gateway?
Shouldn't 192.168.1.0 be bound to 192.168.1.2?

I suspect that I misunderstand something, since the computers are able 
to comunicate.

Any input highly appreciated,
-- 
Arcady Genkin
"... without money one gets nothing in this world, not even a certificate
of eternal blessedness in the other world..." (S. Kierkegaard)