the men would willingly have
gone on longer.

In the criticism of the result Landsberg came out well. He had had four
good hits from one shrapnel--a very fair result; mainly due, of course,
to the luck of the first shot, which by itself would have placed all
the men belonging to one of the enemy's guns _hors de combat_.

The lieutenant's face took on a self-satisfied expression, which seemed
to say: "Of course from me nothing less could have been expected."

Falkenhein, who always kept a watchful eye on each one of his officers,
and who up to that moment had not heard much in favour of this young
man, thought it best to take down his pride a little.

"You know, Lieutenant Landsberg," he said, "your commanding officer
made things very easy for you. As the youngest officer in the regiment
you had the lightest task. Remember that in taking credit to yourself;
and let me tell you that they won't build such barn-doors for you to
aim at next year!"

Upon which he turned pleasantly to Wegstetten and asked: "Did you ride
over and see that target, my dear Wegstetten?--I mean the one that was
hit full?"

"Yes, sir; the shrapnel must have exploded almost inside the gun."

"I thought so. Capital thing, the very first shot of the year being
such a good one. No one like you for that, Wegstetten!"

The captain smiled, much gratified, and modestly answered, "A bit of
good luck, sir!"

But the colonel continued, more seriously: "Well, partly luck, perhaps.
Just one thing more, my dear Wegstetten. That gun-layer who made the
lucky shot--has he been ill? He looked pretty bad to me--like a perfect
death's-head."

Wegstetten gave as many particulars about the man as he himself knew,
and Reimers added some information, Landsberg meanwhile standing by in
silence.

"It is really you, Lieutenant Landsberg, who ought to be telling me all
this," said Falkenhein with some warmth. "You trained the recruits, and
therefore ought to know all about them." Then, turning to Wegstetten:
"If the man is as capable as I hear," he continued, "you might manage
to make things a bit easier for him."

"Yes, sir," the captain hastened to reply. "I had been thinking of
employing him in the autumn as assistant clerk."

This was not true. To think of such details so long beforehand was
impossible, even for the commander of the most efficient battery
in the whole army-corps. But it served its purpose. Falkenhein nodded
pleasantly: "Quite right, my de