him that he had been very unlucky all the day before.

"You see, Franz," he said, "I can't get on at all without you. If you
are my neighbour at foot-drill, I know just where I am. But yesterday
you were absent, and I was a regular blockhead. Just because of me the
drill lasted nearly an hour longer than usual."

"Well, now I shall be back again," Vogt replied.

Klitzing continued: "Yes, but this morning it was the same thing; and
after drill the deputy sergeant-major said that slack fellows like me
should be given a lesson by the other men, and so----"

Here he was silent, and nothing more could be got out of him, so that
Vogt was quite angry over this lack of confidence.

By and by the fat brewer (who, however, was no longer fat) joined them,
and said: "Well, mate, aren't you a bit dense to-day? The 'old gang,'
especially the drivers, mean to be at him, to do for him, all because
of that little bit of extra drill."

Vogt could not but smile at his comrade's good-nature. Truchsess, the
most easy-going of them all, whose clothes after drill were as wet with
perspiration as if they had been in water, Truchsess called it "a
little bit of extra drill"!

But before he could speak, Klitzing began again: "Franz, you mustn't
mix yourself up in this. If they mean to do it you can't prevent it.
The best thing will be for me to submit quietly."

And with a little bitterness he added: "The most they can do is to beat
me to death."

But Vogt interrupted: "Don't talk such nonsense! I don't know what they
are thinking of doing, but I can tell you it shall be prevented. I
promise you that. Don't be afraid. I shall find a way out."

He began to ponder how he could protect his friend from the roughness
of the "old gang."

Should he ask Sergeant Wiegandt to give up going to see his Frieda for
one evening? If he told him, of course not officially, but in a sort of
way privately, about the intentions of the elder soldiers, then
Wiegandt would certainly stay in. But his feeling of solidarity with
his comrades forbad this.

Only, were they any longer comrades when they could ill-treat a poor
weakling? Surely not.

Still he rejected this plan, and in the end decided himself to defend
Klitzing regardless of consequences. If he challenged the fellows
fearlessly and cheekily they would be sure to turn on him, and he would
be able to defend himself. At any rate he could better stand a good
hard blow than the clerk could.

Eveni