ck cloud from his meerschaum pipe. "Big L was a strapping
fellow, with clumsy arms and legs and a big fat head; [1] Little L was like
a willow switch, so slender and supple. He had a small, fine head, and
light, wavy hair that curled of itself, and a delicate nose like a young
eagle's, but above all--he was a lad--"

1 "Die Bollen," a term of dislike among the Berlin
cadets.

The old colonel drew a deep sigh. "Now you must not think that all
this was a matter of indifference to the cadets; on the contrary. The
brothers had scarcely entered the Berlin Cadet. School from the
preparatory school (they came from the one at Wahlstatt, I believe) when
their status was at once fixed: Big L was neglected, and Little L was
the universal favorite.

"Now with such boys it is an odd thing: the big and the strong, they are
the leaders, and on whomsoever these bestow their favor, with that boy
all goes well. It also procures for him respect from the others, and no
one ventures lightly to attack him. Such boys--here again nature stands
right out--much as it is with the animals, before the biggest and
strongest all the rest must crouch."

Fresh, vigorous puffs from the meerschaum accompanied these words.

"When the cadets came down at recreation time those who were good
friends together met and would go walking arm in arm around the
'Karreehof and toward the court where the trees stood, and so it was
always until the trumpet sounded for return to work.

"Big L--well--he attached himself just wherever he could find
attachment, and stalked sullenly ahead by himself--Little L, on the
contrary, almost before he could reach the court was seized under the
arm by two or three big fellows and compelled to walk with them. And
they were Primaners at that. For ordinarily, you must know, it never
occurred to a Primaner to go with a 'Knapsack,' or Plebe, from the
Sekunda; it was far beneath his dignity; but with Little L it was
different, there an exception was made. And yet he was no less loved by
the Sekundaner than by the Primaner. One could see that in class, where
we Sekundaner boys, you know, were by ourselves. In class we were ranged
according to alphabet, so that the two L's sat together very nearly in
the centre.

"In their lessons they stood pretty nearly even. Big L had a good head
for mathematics; in other things he was not of much account, but in
mathematics he was, as you might say, a "shark," and Little L, who was
n