al called across the court-yard to his comrades: "We've got a
hunchback here in the sixth!"

And the poor devil, a firmly-knit, broad-shouldered fellow, who had got
somewhat round-shouldered from sheer hard labour, stood inwardly
raging, and letting them pull him about as they liked; straighten his
back he could not.

"A fellow-townsman of mine, that Findeisen there, a stonemason," said
Weise.

He and Vogt came off well in this inspection. Their things fitted
exactly.

"Thank God some of them have straight bones!" sighed the corporal, and
sent them indoors again.

"You can be packing up your civilian clothes," he called after them,
"and getting them ready to be sent away."

In the passage Vogt stopped: "Which is our room then?" he asked.

"Oh, number nine; we're all in nine," answered Weise. He pushed the
door open, and with mock ceremony invited his comrade to enter.

At this moment the opposite door opened, and a tall thin soldier
stepped over the threshold. Weise started. "What! you, Wilhelm?" he
exclaimed in astonishment.

The other said, "Well, why not? Didn't you know?---- How are you,
anyhow?"

They shook hands warmly, and it seemed to Vogt that they looked at each
other as if there were some private understanding between them. Curious
for an explanation, he inquired, "Who's that? He's an old hand, isn't
he?"

Weise replied: "Oh, he's an old friend of mine; Wolf is his name. Yes,
he has served since last autumn."

He had been speaking quite gravely; but quickly regained his cheerful
manner, and soon after left the room.

Vogt put his civilian clothes into his box and snapped the padlock with
a click. With that he felt that the last link that had bound him to the
old life was broken. He was a soldier now. He looked round the room
that was to be his home for two years: the floor of bare boards; the
grey-plastered walls, hidden for the most part by the rows of lockers,
and their only decoration a portrait of the King over the door and two
unframed battle pictures fastened up with tin-tacks. These had
evidently been torn out of a newspaper. Two large tables surrounded by
stools stood in the middle of the room; and at one of the two windows,
which were bare except for their striped roller-blinds, a smaller table
was placed with a common chair before it, the seat assigned to the
corporal in charge of the room.

The others now began to come up from the court-yard. They were fifteen,
all told; but as