Captain von Wegstetten sometimes raged with impatience when his new
sergeant-major could not meet his requirements. Mere indications and
suggestions were not sufficient for the dull and somewhat limited
understanding of Heimert. Every detail had to be pointed out to him and
explained at length; but once he comprehended them he showed himself
capable of carrying out orders punctually and carefully.

From the time of his promotion Heimert troubled himself little about
Albina. His behaviour towards her became shy and odd; he avoided as
much as possible being alone with her. He preferred to sit at his desk
in the orderly-room, while she on her side felt no regret in being
relieved from the too particular attentions of her unloved husband.

Kaeppchen came to the conclusion that the sergeant-major must have a
screw loose somewhere. Heimert exhibited certain strange whims. He
would become perfectly furious if the many-coloured penholder which
Heppner had used were offered him, and he strictly forbade the corporal
ever to put it on his desk. Kaeppchen would sometimes for fun hand him
this penholder "by mistake" if a signature were wanted in a hurry. The
sergeant-major looked so comic with his blazing eyes and crimson face,
his nose shining reddest of all.

But the days were always too long for the sergeant-major. Even his
writing came at last to an end, and there was still time left on his
hands. He was not long in finding an occupation.

In the mounted exercises he had hitherto led the third column, but as
sergeant-major he now had to take an entirely different place in the
formation. His work was, as a matter of fact, much easier than
formerly; but he seemed to find it twice as difficult to understand. He
often did not know where he ought to be, and when Wegstetten found
fault with him he took it much to heart. What sort of an impression
would it give, if even the sergeant-major did not know his work, the
senior non-commissioned officer of the battery?

When he went over his book, puzzling out the regulations with his
fingers in his ears, his thoughts seemed to become more and more wildly
confused. He could form no clear picture of all these evolutions. He
therefore took his pen-knife, and with endless trouble made little
wooden figures, roughly representing the guns, the ammunition waggons,
and the individual mounted men. He coloured these figures so that they
might be perfectly distinguishable: the commander of the bat