the men of
the battery all say it is a mean shame, what's happened to Vogt, a mean
shame."

But the turnpike-keeper did not seem to understand him. He only nodded
and said, "Thank you, thank you," and tramped slowly down the stairs in
his heavy boots.

Whilst Friedrich August Vogt waited for his train in the station of the
little garrison town, the trial of his son was taking place before the
military court of the district.

There was no doubt about the circumstances of the case. The two
eye-witnesses, Senior-lieutenant Brettschneider and Senior-lieutenant
Reimers, were unanimous on the subject, and the accused gave his assent
to the correctness of the particulars.

The trial would therefore have come to an end very quickly had there
not been a number of witnesses for the accused.

Captain von Wegstetten, as head of the battery; Captain Guentz, who had
commanded it during Wegstetten's temporary absence; Senior-lieutenant
Reimers and Lieutenant Landsberg, as officers in the battery; the
sergeant-major and other non-commissioned officers: all united in
giving Vogt the very best possible character. Wegstetten had had a
violent altercation with Brettschneider, not only from personal feeling
for the bombardier, but also from annoyance that his best candidate for
a non-commissioned officer's post was lost to him through a piece of
such tactless mismanagement. Brettschneider had complained about this
reprimand, but no notice had been taken of his complaint, and that in
itself spoke volumes for the accused. Guentz and Reimers were very warm
in their praise of Vogt, and even Lieutenant Landsberg remembered the
man as being particularly willing and diligent on duty.

Things looked favourable for the accused.

One of the officers present, a captain of the pioneers, asked Vogt:
"You had just been working very hard, had you not? had fixed the heavy
wheel single-handed, and had run very fast to tell Senior-lieutenant
Brettschneider?--were you not very much exhausted and out of breath?"

"Yes, sir."

"I mean, you were rather over-tired and your eyes were dazed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Perhaps you did not quite know what you were doing?"

The accused hesitated a moment.

Wegstetten and Reimers had remained in the room. The former moved
restlessly from one foot to the other. If Vogt were only to say "Yes,"
then the whole thing would be put down to a temporary aberration of
mind due to hurry and fatigue, and the affair would e