but no
man shall ever lay a hand upon me.' And by this maxim I abided as long
as I remained in the service.

I do not intend to make a history of battles in the Prussian any more
than in the English service. I did my duty in them as well as another,
and by the time that my moustache had grown to a decent length, which
it did when I was twenty years of age, there was not a braver, cleverer,
handsomer, and I must own, wickeder soldier in the Prussian army. I had
formed myself to the condition of the proper fighting beast; on a day of
action I was savage and happy; out of the field I took all the pleasure
I could get, and was by no means delicate as to its quality or the
manner of procuring it. The truth is, however, that there was among our
men a much higher tone of society than among the clumsy louts in the
English army, and our service was generally so strict that we had little
time for doing mischief. I am very dark and swarthy in complexion,
and was called by our fellows the 'Black Englander,' the 'Schwartzer
Englander,' or the English Devil. If any service was to be done, I was
sure to be put upon it. I got frequent gratifications of money, but no
promotion; and it was on the day after I had killed the Austrian colonel
(a great officer of Uhlans, whom I engaged--singly and on foot) that
General Bulow, my colonel, gave me two Frederics-d'or in front of the
regiment, and said, 'I reward thee now; but I fear I shall have to hang
thee one day or other.' I spent the money, and that I had taken from the
colonel's body, every groschen, that night with some jovial companions;
but as long as war lasted was never without a dollar in my purse.

CHAPTER VII. BARRY LEADS A GARRISON LIFE, AND FINDS MANY FRIENDS THERE

After the war our regiment was garrisoned in the capital, the least
dull, perhaps, of all the towns of Prussia: but that does not say much
for its gaiety. Our service, which was always severe, still left many
hours of the day disengaged, in which we might take our pleasure had we
the means of paying for the same. Many of our mess got leave to work
in trades; but I had been brought up to none: and besides, my honour
forbade me; for as a gentleman, I could not soil my fingers by a manual
occupation. But our pay was barely enough to keep us from starving; and
as I have always been fond of pleasure, and as the position in which we
now were, in the midst of the capital, prevented us from resorting to
those means o