er less patched and threadbare than those of the others. However,
the new comrade seemed in anything but a cheerful mood; he dropped into
a seat at the darkest end of the table, leant his head on his hand, and
did not touch the loaf which the corporal placed before him.

Most of the recruits regarded him with unconcealed mistrust. What kind
of stuck-up fine gentleman was this, who sat there as if his comrades
didn't exist? He was no better than they. Only Vogt and Klitzing looked
at him with compassion; who could tell what trouble this Frielinghausen
was suffering from?

Weise became only the more gay. He took on himself to enliven the feast
with jokes and drollery, and they all listened willingly; it kept off
dulness, and the disagreeable thoughts that assailed them.

The corporal, too, listened awhile, well pleased. Then he called to the
joker: "Hi, you black fellow! come here a minute!"

Weise sprang up, and his superior looked him up and down, not
unfavourably.

"You're right," he said; "it's no good pulling a long face; a soldier
should be jolly. Tell me, what's your name?"

"Weise," answered the recruit.

"Weise? Gustav Weise?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, indeed. Well, all right; sit down again."

Weise went back to his place, feeling somewhat snubbed. Why had the
corporal suddenly looked so glum when he heard the name? There was
nothing peculiar about his name. He did not trouble his head very much
about it; but his cheerfulness passed away.

The last thing to do on this first day of their soldier's life was to
give up their civilian clothes, with the address to which each box was
to be sent. Klitzing knew no one who could receive his belongings; so
they remained in the custody of the battery.

At length the day drew to a close. Shortly before ten o'clock "Lights
out and go to bed!" was called. They hung up their jackets and went
upstairs to the dormitory.

This was a spacious room, which extended, directly under the roof, the
whole length and breadth of the building. Vogt had the good fortune to
secure a bed in one of the outer rows close to a window, and he
beckoned to Klitzing to take possession of the bed next him on the
right. That on the left, in the corner, had been allotted by the
corporal to Frielinghausen. The recruits were not long in getting to
bed; though the "old gang" were more leisurely in their proceedings.

It was only on lying down that Vogt discovered how tired he was. The
lean cler