ten wished to hear good
of the bombardier, and after all, in the fire-workers, it would not be
necessary for Frielinghausen to be a proficient at riding. But the less
Frielinghausen knew about horses the more he boasted of his
acquirements, when once the riding instruction had come to an end.

As soon as he was made bombardier he was removed from Room IX. to the
non-commissioned officers' quarters.

Wegstetten thought to do his _protege_ a favour by this; but
Frielinghausen felt no happier in his new surroundings than in the
company of the recruits. The mental atmosphere was hardly more
enlightened than that of his former room-mates. The service, horses,
and women: these were the chief subjects of conversation. They all
appeared to be great riders before the Lord, though had Heppner been
questioned in the matter he might have expressed a contrary opinion;
but every mounted non-com, thinks it necessary to be a bit of a
Munchausen. He would far rather be called a blockhead than be told he
cannot ride. Though, of course, Frielinghausen contributed his mite to
such conversations, on the whole he felt very much in doubt which he
preferred: the narrow interests of the common soldiers in Room IX., or
the well-meant rough good nature of the non-commissioned officers. He
rather inclined to Room IX.

All this was changed when the non-commissioned officers' room received
a new inmate, the one-year volunteer Trautvetter.

Captain von Wegstetten fully intended that his one-year volunteers,
like his whole battery, should be distinguished above all the others in
the regiment. If they behaved well he was most charming to them; if
not, then he was all the more strict, because he considered them young
people whose superior education laid them under the greater
obligations.

All his labour had been in vain with Trautvetter. The one year
volunteer was a ne'er-do-weel, a drunkard, a debauchee, and a useless
fool on duty into the bargain. And he had command of considerable
supplies of money, which, being an orphan and of age, he could spend as
he pleased.

All means had failed with him: punishment drill, being reported,
deprivation of leave, and being put under arrest. So at last Wegstetten
decided to send him to live in barracks.

Trautvetter, a bull-necked, square-shouldered man, with a broad chest,
took this punishment with great equanimity. He arranged his belongings
complacently in his locker and looked calmly round the bare ro