Good Blood | Page 7

coats as much as
we would, there was sure to be left some dust lying on them, and as
soon as the 'cross lieutenant' saw it, he would sing out in a voice like
that of an old bleating ram: 'Write him down for Sunday report,' and
then Sunday's day off might go to the devil, and then that got to be a
very serious matter."
The old colonel paused, took a vigorous swallow of wine, and with the
palm of his hand squeezed the beard from his upper lip into his mouth
and sucked off the wine drops that sparkled on the hair. Recollection of
the "cross lieutenant" made him plainly furious.
"When one considers what sort of meanness it takes to so deprive a

poor little fellow of the Sunday holiday he has been hugging for a
whole week, and all for a trifle--bah! it's downright--whenever I have
seen any one annoying my men--in later days that sort of thing didn't
happen in my regiment; they knew this, that I was there and would not
tolerate it.--To be rough at times, ay, even to the extreme if necessary,
to throw one into the guard-house, that does no harm--: but to nag--for
that it takes a mean skunk!"
"Very true!" observed the waiter from the back part of the room, and
thus made it known that he was following the colonel's story.
The old man calmed himself and went on with his story.
"Things went on this way for a year, and then came the time for
examinations, always a very special occasion.
"The Primaners took their ensign's examination, and the Selektaners,
who, as I have said, Were called 'Onions,' the officer's examination, and
as fast as any had passed the examination, they were dismissed from
the cadet corps and sent home, and it came about that the second
classmen, or Sekundaner, who were to be promoted to first class, still
remained Sekundaner for a time.
"Well, this state of affairs lasted until the new Sekundaner entered from
the preparatory school and the newly dubbed 'Onions' returned, and
then once more the wheelbarrow trudged along its accustomed way.
But in the meantime a kind of disorder prevailed, more especially just
after the last of the Primaners had left--they were examined in sections,
you know, and then despatched, after which everything went pretty
much at sixes and sevens.
"There was now in the dormitory where the two brothers lived a certain
Primaner, a 'swell,' as he was called by the cadets, and because he had
made up his mind, as soon as he should pass the examination and
breathe the fresh air again, to conduct himself like a fine gentleman, he
had had made for himself, instead of a sword-belt like those the cadets
procured from the institution and wore, a special patent-leather belt of
his own, thinner and apparently finer than the ordinary regulation belt.

He was able to afford this much, you see, for he had money sent to him
from home. He had displayed this belt about everywhere, for he was
inordinately proud of it, and the other cadets admired it.
"Now as the day arrived for the Primaner to pack together his scattered
belongings in order to go home, he looked to buckle on his fine
belt--and all at once the thing was missing.
"A great to-do followed; search was made everywhere; the belt was not
to be found. The Primaner had not locked it in his wardrobe, but had
put it with his helmet in the dormitory behind the curtain where the
helmets of the other cadets lay openly--and from there it had
disappeared.
"It could not possibly have disappeared in any other way;--some one
must have taken it.
"But who?
"First they thought of the old servant who was accustomed to blacken
the boots of the cadets, and keep the dormitory in order--but he was an
old trusty non-commissioned officer, who had never during the course
of his long life allowed himself to be guilty of the least irregularity.
"It surely could not be one of the cadets? But who could possibly think
such a thing? So the matter remained a mystery, and truly an
unpleasant one. The Primaner swore and scolded because he must now
leave wearing the ordinary institution belt; the other cadets in the room
were altogether silent and depressed; they had at once unlocked all their
wardrobes and offered to let the Primaner search them, but he had
merely replied: 'That's nonsense, of course; who could think of such a
thing?'
"And now something remarkable happened, and caused more sensation
than all that went before; all at once the Primaner got back the belt.
"He had just left his room with his portmanteau in his hand, and had
reached the stairs, when