, not a hint that totters on the brink of an indiscretion,
and what higher praise can one give to speech-making on such an
occasion!

My particular host and introducer to his old corps is youngest of all,
and though seemingly as lavish in his potations as any one, sings his
way home with me, head as clear, legs as steady, eyes as bright, as
though it were 10 A. M. and not 2 A. M., and as though I had not
seemed to see his face during most of the evening through the bottom
of a beer-mug.

That was the night before. The next morning we stroll over to the room
where the Schlaeger contests are to take place. It is packed with
students in their different-colored caps. Beer there is, of course,
but no smoking allowed till the bouts are over.

I go down to see the men dressing for the fray. They strip to the
waist, put on a loose half-shirt half-jacket of cotton stuff, then a
heavily padded half-jerkin that covers them completely from chin to
knee. The throat is wrapped round and round with heavy silk bandages.
The right arm and hand are guarded with a glove and a heavily padded
leather sleeve; all these impervious to any sword blow. The eyes are
guarded with steel spectacle frames fitted with thick glass. Nothing
is exposed but the face and the top of the head. The exposed parts are
washed with antiseptics, as are also the swords, repeatedly during the
bout. The sword, hilt and blade together, measures one hundred and
five centimetres. There is a heavy, well-guarded hilt, and a pliable
blade with a square end, sharp as a razor on both edges for some six
inches from the end.

The position in the sword-play is to face squarely one's opponent, the
sword hand well over the head with the blade held down over the left
shoulder. The distance between the combatants is measured by placing
the swords between them lengthwise, each one with his chest against
the hilt of his own weapon, and this marks the proper distance between
them. When they are brought in and face one another, the umpire, with
a bow, explains the situation. The two seconds with swords crouch each
beside his man, ready to throw up the swords and stop the fighting
between each bout. Two other men stand ready to hold the rather
heavily weighted sword arm of their comrade on the shoulder during the
pauses. Two others with cotton dipped in an antiseptic preparation
keep the points of the swords clean. Still another official keeps a
record in a book, of each cut or scr