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In the courtyard the senior-lieutenant suddenly stood still. "The devil! I am horribly thirsty!" he said, clearing his throat. "Shall I fetch you a glass of beer from the bar?" suggested Reimers. "No, don't bother. Water will do me more good," replied Güntz. He returned to the arbour, fetched a glass, and went to the well. The pump creaked discordantly in the stillness of the night.
The senior-lieutenant repeated his order, whereupon the corporal took the bombardier by his right arm and marched away with him through the gate into the courtyard of the barrack. When they were out of hearing, Reimers turned to his companion: "Were you not a little hard on him, Brettschneider?"
After a little pause the shrill voice continued: "We had a senior-lieutenant in our cantonment, belonging to some Prussian grenadier regiment, a gay fellow, and, indeed, quite a useful officer besides." Madelung paused a moment, and again his dry, mocking laugh resounded. Then he continued: "He had a queer fad.
He would have liked to throw his arms round the dear fellow's neck. Now the reconciliation took place, and when the opponents shook hands Landsberg's glance fell before the honest eyes of the senior-lieutenant. All traces of embarrassment vanished from the men's faces.
The delight with which he now fastened the stars upon his epaulettes was little less than that with which, seven years earlier, he had attached the epaulettes themselves to his uniform, feeling himself the happiest man in the whole world. When Senior-lieutenant Reimers reported himself to the colonel, Falkenhein made him an unexpected proposition.
Neither of the other five guns had got as far as his, and yet his had been the heaviest job. He told his men to keep still, and ran over to Senior-lieutenant Brettschneider to report the completion of his task. Brettschneider was standing at the edge of the parade-ground in the shade of the baggage-shed, talking to Senior-lieu-tenant Reimers.
"The dissipated scoundrel has missed the early train, of course. He might at least have telegraphed." Naturally Gropphusen could not be waited for. Senior-lieutenant Frommelt took charge of the battery, and the regiment set off on its march. But even at their first halting-place the missing man failed to put in an appearance, and now came some enlightenment as to his proceedings.
He sipped his wine, and continued, rather more gently: "I firmly believe that it required greater self-control in that senior-lieutenant to refrain from putting his little finger into his mouth than to lead his men under the heaviest fire against one of those Chinese clay and mud walls."
Some weeks later the head physician of the military hospital in the capital gave a lecture, with illustrations, before the Medical Society, "Upon an interesting case of the effects of small bore ammunition." Senior-Lieutenant Reimers sought an interview with his colonel, and frankly confided his trouble to him. In a sad, hopeless voice he told the whole story, concealing nothing.
Being the eldest lieutenant in the regiment his promotion to senior-lieutenant was expected any day. The young officer was in the seventh heaven of delight at this mark of distinction. He embarked on his new duties with boundless and untiring zeal.
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