ound everything was
sprouting, filled with the vigour of youth. He guided his horse
carefully round a patch of primroses, which covered the whole width of
the path with a sheet of yellow blossoms.

He bade dull care begone. Could he not at any time quit the service
directly he became convinced of its ineffectiveness? To-day's
experience was simply a fresh weight in the scales of his doubt.

He had once more determined to apply all his strength to the solution
of a problem, which had been in his mind even at the time of his
employment in Berlin.

There seemed to him no doubt that the French field-artillery with its
anti-recoil construction had gained a great advantage over all other
armies; an advantage which could only be prejudiced if the utility of
the invention were proved on the field of battle to be less than was
expected. Up to the present time the French gun-carriage had only been
tested on a small scale in peace man[oe]uvres, and it had not been
absolutely demonstrated that its construction would stand the
continuous high pressure of a campaign. He was now absorbed in a scheme
for simplifying and strengthening the anti-recoil attachments in such a
way that they would keep in working order under the severest test. And
at the same time he had been directing his attention to the steel
shields used in the French field-artillery for the protection of the
men who served the guns. German military authorities were for the most
part opposed to the introduction of this method of protection; but the
shield seemed to him very worthy of adoption. In the battles of the
future the percentage of probable losses must be computed quite
mathematically; and it would be a great advantage if, by virtue of the
shield, a large number of the combatants could be considered safe.
The opponents of the measure gave it as their opinion that the men
would shirk quitting the protection of the shield; or that, at any
rate, they would take aim so hurriedly that their accuracy must
necessarily suffer. Well, one might equally well argue that the
infantry would refuse to leave their trenches. The other objection was
more convincing: shooting would become too difficult if this steel
shield were associated with the anti-recoil construction. It was a
question of mobility; therefore Guentz set to work to find out some
method of lightening the gun. Why should the gun-carriage be loaded
with such a large quantity of ammunition as was customary--more,