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'Korps brothers, he said, 'our friend Rex visits us in a new capacity. He comes not as usual to share the drinking-horn and the yellow-black song-book. He is with us to-day as a guest-at-arms. Let us drink to his especial welfare. 'To your especial welfare, said each student, holding his cup out towards Rex, and then drinking a short draught.
During nearly three years since that time he had been a student; during more than one he had been a soldier, serving his time with the cuirassiers, and coming into the town as often as he could to spend an hour with his Korps. It was all over now, never to begin again.
He could see at a glance that Rex's position with regard to the Korps was wholly changed, and that henceforth his friend was likely to be almost as popular as himself. The fact that Rex had been chief of the Saxo-Prussians was in itself a sufficient recommendation and would long since have inspired them with respect, had Rex chosen to disclose his former dignity.
The system of student life in Germany with its duelling, its associations into Korps, its festivals, and its rabid tenacity to tradition, has frequently been pronounced ridiculous by European and American writers, though it does not appear that those who laugh at it have entered into Korps life themselves, even when they have resided during a considerable time at a German University.
'I wanted to fight the man first, continued Greif, 'but Rex objected and appealed to me as the head of a Korps to get the matter settled at once. He wants to fight to-morrow morning with the rest. 'Prosit! laughed the second. 'We thought he was a Philistine! He must be forty years old! What a sight it will be! cried a dozen voices. 'As he demands it, we must oblige him, observed Greif.
Greif set down the lamp upon the table and seemed to hesitate a moment. Then he turned again and laid his hand upon his friend's arm. 'Rex, do you want money? asked Greif. 'You know I have plenty. In the eyes of a Korps student the want of cash appears to be the only ill to which flesh is heir. Rex smiled rather sadly. 'No, I do not want money. I thank you, all the same. 'What is it then?
As the clock struck nine, Greif, as president of the presiding Korps, called for silence, and ordered the opening 'Salamander. Hundreds of glasses rattled upon the oak boards in strict time, and the official Kneipe was declared opened. The music burst out gloriously, echoing among the great wooden beams of the high roof, and song upon song rose full and melodious from below.
'A good thing! A very good thing! exclaimed the second more solemnly than before. He rarely said much else, and his hand was infinitely more eloquent than his tongue. 'I hope it is, said Greif. 'This is your affair. You had better go and see the second of the Rhine Korps at once. Rex is waiting for the answer at the Palmengarten. Remember he is determined to fight at once.
Every other Korps had done the same, till not a foot of the walls was left bare. High above, in a gallery, sat the musicians, who were to accompany the songs with their instruments, during the night. The students assembled quickly and took their seats.
The next person to appear upon the ground was the surgeon, a young man with a young beard, who had not been many years out of a Korps himself, and who understood by experience the treatment of every scratch and wound that a rapier can inflict. He also carried a bag, though a small one, and began to lay out his instruments in a business-like fashion upon the table reserved for his use.
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