Chapter 5

by William Makepeace Thackeray

　　BARRY FAR FROM MILITARY GLORY.After the death of my protector, Captain Fagan, I am forced toconfess that I fell into the very worst of courses and company.Being a rough soldier of fortune himself, he had never been afavourite with the officers of his regiment; who had a contempt forIrishmen, as Englishmen sometimes will have, and used to mock hisbrogue, and his blunt uncouth manners. I had been insolent to one ortwo of them, and had only been screened from punishment by hisintercession; especially his successor, Mr. Rawson, had no likingfor me, and put another man into the sergeant's place vacant in hiscompany after the battle of Minden. This act of injustice renderedmy service very disagreeable to me; and, instead of seeking toconquer the dislike of my superiors, and win their goodwill by goodbehaviour, I only sought for means to make my situation easier tome, and grasped at all the amusements in my power. In a foreigncountry, with the enemy before us, and the people continually undercontribution from one side or the other, numberless irregularitieswere permitted to the troops which would not have been allowed inmore peaceable times. I descended gradually to mix with thesergeants, and to share their amusements: drinking and gamblingwere, I am sorry to say, our principal pastimes; and I fell soreadily into their ways, that though only a young lad of seventeen,I was the master of them all in daring wickedness; though there weresome among them who, I promise you, were far advanced in the scienceof every kind of profligacy. I should have been under the provost-marshal's hands, for a dead certainty, had I continued much longerin the army: but an accident occurred which took me out of theEnglish service in rather a singular manner.The year in which George II died, our regiment had the honour to bepresent at the battle of Warburg (where the Marquis of Granby andhis horse fully retrieved the discredit which had fallen upon thecavalry since Lord George Sackville's defalcation at Minden), andwhere Prince Ferdinand once more completely defeated the Frenchmen.During the action, my lieutenant, Mr. Fakenham, of Fakenham, thegentleman who had threatened me, it may be remembered, with thecaning, was struck by a musket-ball in the side. He had shown nowant of courage in this or any other occasion where he had beencalled upon to act against the French; but this was his first wound,and the young gentleman was exceedingly frightened by it. He offeredfive guineas to be carried into the town, which was hard by; and Iand another man, taking him up in a cloak, managed to transport himinto a place of decent appearance, where we put him to bed, andwhere a young surgeon (who desired nothing better than to takehimself out of the fire of the musketry) went presently to dress hiswound.In order to get into the house, we had been obliged, it must beconfessed, to fire into the locks with our pieces; which summonsbrought an inhabitant of the house to the door, a very pretty andblack-eyed young woman, who lived there with her old half-blindfather, a retired Jagdmeister of the Duke of Cassel, hard by. Whenthe French were in the town, Meinherr's house had suffered likethose of his neighbours; and he was at first exceedingly unwillingto accommodate his guests. But the first knocking at the door hadthe effect of bringing a speedy answer; and Mr. Fakenham, taking acouple of guineas out of a very full purse, speedily convinced thepeople that they had only to deal with a person of honour.Leaving the doctor (who was very glad to stop) with his patient, whopaid me the stipulated reward, I was returning to my regiment withmy other comrade--after having paid, in my German jargon, somedeserved compliments to the black-eyed beauty of Warburg, andthinking, with no small envy, how comfortable it would be to bebilleted there--when the private who was with me cut short myreveries by suggesting that we should divide the five guineas thelieutenant had given me.'There is your share,' said I, giving the fellow one piece; whichwas plenty, as I was the leader of the expedition. But he swore adreadful oath that he would have half; and when I told him to go toa quarter which I shall not name, the fellow, lifting his musket,hit me a blow with the butt-end of it, which sent me lifeless to theground: when I awoke from my> trance, I found myself bleeding with alarge wound in the head, and had barely time to stagger back to thehouse where I had left the lieutenant, when I again fell fainting atthe door.Here I must have been discovered by the surgeon on his issuing out;for when I awoke a second time I found myself in the ground-floor ofthe house, supported by the black-eyed girl, while the surgeon wascopiously bleeding me at the arm. There was another bed in the roomwhere the lieutenant had been laid,--it was that occupied by Gretel,the servant; while Lischen, as my fair one was called, had, tillnow, slept in the couch where the wounded officer lay.'Who are you putting into that bed?' said he languidly, in German;for the ball had been extracted from his side with much pain andloss of blood.They told him it was the corporal who had brought him.'A corporal?' said he, in English; 'turn him out.' And you may besure I felt highly complimented by the words. But we were both toofaint to compliment or to abuse each other much, and I was put tobed carefully; and, on being undressed, had an opportunity to findthat my pockets had been rifled by the English soldier after he hadknocked me down. However, I was in good quarters: the young lady whosheltered me presently brought me a refreshing drink; and, as I tookit, I could not help pressing the kind hand that gave it me; nor, intruth, did this token of my gratitude seem unwelcome.This intimacy did not decrease with further acquaintance. I foundLischen the tenderest of nurses. Whenever any delicacy was to beprovided for the wounded lieutenant, a share was always sent to thebed opposite his, and to the avaricious man's no small annoyance.His illness was long. On the second day the fever declared itself;for some nights he was delirious; and I remember it was when acommanding officer was inspecting our quarters, with an intention,very likely, of billeting himself on the house, that the howling andmad words of the patient overhead struck him, and he retired ratherfrightened. I had been sitting up very comfortably in the lowerapartment, for my hurt was quite subsided; and it was only when theofficer asked me, with a rough voice, why I was not at my regiment,that I began to reflect how pleasant my quarters were to me, andthat I was much better here than crawling under an odious tent witha parcel of tipsy soldiers, or going the night-rounds or rising longbefore daybreak for drill.The delirium of Mr. Fakenham gave me a hint, and I determinedforthwith to go mad. There was a poor fellow about Brady's Towncalled 'Wandering Billy,' whose insane pranks I had often mimickedas a lad, and I again put them in practice. That night I made anattempt upon Lischen, saluting her with a yell and a grin whichfrightened her almost out of her wits; and when anybody came I wasraving. The blow on the head had disordered my brain; the doctor wasready to vouch for this fact. One night I whispered to him that Iwas Julius Caesar, and considered him to be my affianced wife QueenCleopatra, which convinced him of my insanity. Indeed, if HerMajesty had been like my Aesculapius, she must have had a carrotybeard, such as is rare in Egypt.A movement on the part of the French speedily caused an advance onour part. The town was evacuated, except by a few Prussian troops,whose surgeons were to visit the wounded in the place; and, when wewere well, we were to be drafted to our regiments. I determined thatI never would join mine again. My intention was to make for Holland,almost the only neutral country of Europe in those times, and thenceto get a passage somehow to England, and home to dear old Brady'sTown.If Mr. Fakenham is now alive, I here tender him my apologies for myconduct to him. He was very rich; he used me very ill. I managed tofrighten away his servant who came to attend him after the affair ofWarburg, and from that time would sometimes condescend to wait uponthe patient, who always treated me with scorn; but it was my objectto have him alone, and I bore his brutality with the utmost civilityand mildness, meditating in my own mind a very pretty return for allhis favours to me. Nor was I the only person in the house to whomthe worthy gentleman was uncivil. He ordered the fair Lischen hitherand thither, made impertinent love to her, abused her soups,quarrelled with her omelettes, and grudged the money which was laidout for his maintenance; so that our hostess detested him as muchas, I think, without vanity, she regarded me.For, if the truth must be told, I had made very deep love to herduring my stay under her roof; as is always my way with women, ofwhatever age or degree of beauty. To a man who has to make his wayin the world, these dear girls can always be useful in one fashionor another; never mind, if they repel your passion; at any rate,they are not offended with your declaration of it, and only lookupon you with more favourable eyes in consequence of yourmisfortune. As for Lischen, I told her such a pathetic story of mylife (a tale a great deal more romantic than that here narrated,--for I did not restrict myself to the exact truth in that history, asin these pages I am bound to do), that I won the poor girl's heartentirely, and, besides, made considerable progress in the Germanlanguage under her instruction. Do not think me very cruel andheartless, ladies; this heart of Lischen's was like many a town inthe neighbourhood in which she dwelt, and had been stormed andoccupied several times before I came to invest it; now mountingFrench colours, now green and yellow Saxon, now black and whitePrussian, as the case may be. A lady who sets her heart upon a ladin uniform must prepare to change lovers pretty quickly, or her lifewill be but a sad one.The German surgeon who attended us after the departure of theEnglish only condescended to pay our house a visit twice during myresidence; and I took care, for a reason I had, to receive him in adarkened room, much to the annoyance of Mr. Fakenham, who lay there:but I said the light affected my eyes dreadfully since my blow onthe head; and so I covered up my head with clothes when the doctorcame, and told him that I was an Egyptian mummy, or talked to himsome insane nonsense, in order to keep up my character.'What is that nonsense you were talking about an Egyptian mummy,fellow?' asked Mr. Fakenham peevishly.'Oh! you'll know soon, sir,' said I.The next time that I expected the doctor to come, instead ofreceiving him in a darkened room, with handkerchiefs muffled, I tookcare to be in the lower room, and was having a game at cards withLischen as the surgeon entered. I had taken possession of adressing-jacket of the lieutenant's, and some other articles of hiswardrobe, which fitted me pretty well; and, I flatter myself, was noungentlemanlike figure.'Good-morrow, Corporal,' said the doctor, rather gruffly, in replyto my smiling salute.'Corporal! Lieutenant, if you please,' answered I, giving an archlook at Lischen, whom I had instructed in my plot.'How lieutenant?' asked the surgeon. 'I thought the lieutenant was'--'Upon my word, you do me great honour,' cried I, laughing; 'youmistook me for the mad corporal upstairs. The fellow has once ortwice pretended to be an officer, but my kind hostess here cananswer which is which.''Yesterday he fancied he was Prince Ferdinand,' said Lischen; 'theday you came he said he was an Egyptian mummy.''So he did,' said the doctor; 'I remember; but, ha! ha! do you know,Lieutenant, I have in my notes made a mistake in you two?''Don't talk to me about his malady; he is calm now.'Lischen and I laughed at this error as at the most ridiculous thingin the world; and when the surgeon went up to examine his patient, Icautioned him not to talk to him about the subject of his malady,for he was in a very excited state.The reader will be able to gather from the above conversation whatmy design really was. I was determined to escape, and to escapeunder the character of Lieutenant Fakenham; taking it from him tohis face, as it were, and making use of it to meet my imperiousnecessity. It was forgery and robbery, if you like; for I took allhis money and clothes,--I don't care to conceal it; but the need wasso urgent, that I would do so again: and I knew I could not effectmy escape without his purse, as well as his name. Hence it became myduty to take possession of one and the other.As the lieutenant lay still in bed upstairs, I did not hesitate atall about assuming his uniform, especially after taking care toinform myself from the doctor whether any men of ours who might knowme were in the town. But there were none that I could hear of; andso I calmly took my walks with Madame Lischen, dressed in thelieutenant's uniform, made inquiries as to a horse that I wanted topurchase, reported myself to the commandant of the place asLieutenant Fakenham, of Gale's English regiment of foot,convalescent, and was asked to dine with the officers of thePrussian regiment at a very sorry mess they had. How Fakenham wouldhave stormed and raged, had he known the use I was making of hisname!Whenever that worthy used to inquire about his clothes, which he didwith many oaths and curses that he would have me caned at theregiment for inattention, I, with a most respectful air, informedhim that they were put away in perfect safety below; and, in fact,had them very neatly packed, and ready for the day when I proposedto depart. His papers and money, however, he kept under his pillow;and, as I had purchased a horse, it became necessary to pay for it.At a certain hour, then, I ordered the animal to be brought round,when I would pay the dealer for him. (I shall pass over my adieuxwith my kind hostess, which were very tearful indeed). And then,making up my mind to the great action, walked upstairs to Fakenham'sroom attired in his full regimentals, and with his hat cocked overmy left eye.'You gweat scoundwel!' said he, with a multiplicity of oaths; 'youmutinous dog! what do you mean by dWessing yourself in myWegimentals? As sure as my name's Fakenham, when we get back to theWegiment, I'll have your soul cut out of your body.''I'm promoted, Lieutenant,' said I, with a sneer. 'I'm come to takemy leave of you;' and then going up to his bed, I said, 'I intend tohave your papers and purse.' With this I put my hand under hispillow; at which he gave a scream that might have called the wholegarrison about my ears. 'Hark ye, sir!' said I, 'no more noise, oryou are a dead man!' and taking a handkerchief, I bound it tightaround his mouth so as well-nigh to throttle him, and, pullingforward the sleeves of his shirt, tied them in a knot together, andso left him; removing the papers and the purse, you may be sure, andwishing him politely a good day.'It is the mad corporal,' said I to the people down below who wereattracted by the noise from the sick man's chamber; and so takingleave of the old blind Jagdmeister, and an adieu (I will not say howtender) of his daughter, I mounted my newly purchased animal; and,as I pranced away, and the sentinels presented arms to me at thetown-gates, felt once more that I was in my proper sphere, anddetermined never again to fall from the rank of a gentleman.I took at first the way towards Bremen, where our army was, and gaveout that I was bringing reports and letters from the Prussiancommandant of Warburg to headquarters; but, as soon as I got out ofsight of the advanced sentinels, I turned bridle and rode into theHesse-Cassel territory, which is luckily not very far from Warburg:and I promise you I was very glad to see the blue-and-red stripes onthe barriers, which showed me that I was out of the land occupied byour countrymen. I rode to Hof, and the next day to Cassel, givingout that I was the bearer of despatches to Prince Henry, then on theLower Rhine, and put up at the best hotel of the place, where thefield-officers of the garrison had their ordinary. These gentlemen Itreated to the best wines that the house afforded, for I wasdetermined to keep up the character of the English gentleman, and Italked to them about my English estates with a fluency that almostmade me believe in the stories which I invented. I was even asked toan assembly at Wilhelmshohe, the Elector's palace, and danced aminuet there with the Hofmarshal's lovely daughter, and lost a fewpieces to his excellency the first huntmaster of his Highness.At our table at the inn there was a Prussian officer who treated mewith great civility, and asked me a thousand questions aboutEngland; which I answered as best I might. But this best, I am boundto say, was bad enough. I knew nothing about England, and the Court,and the noble families there; but, led away by the vaingloriousnessof youth (and a propensity which I possessed in my early days, butof which I have long since corrected myself, to boast and talk in amanner not altogether consonant with truth), I invented a thousandstories which I told him; described the King and the Ministers tohim, said the British Ambassador at Berlin was my uncle, andpromised my acquaintance a letter of recommendation to him. When theofficer asked me my uncle's name, I was not able to give him thereal name, and so said his name was O'Grady: it is as good a name asany other, and those of Kilballyowen, county Cork, are as good afamily as any in the world, as I have heard. As for stories about myregiment, of these, of course, I had no lack. I wish my otherhistories had been equally authentic.On the morning I left Cassel, my Prussian friend came to me with anopen smiling countenance, and said he, too, was bound forDusseldorf, whither I said my route lay; and so laying our horses'heads together we jogged on. The country was desolate beyonddescription. The prince in whose dominions we were was known to bethe most ruthless seller of men in Germany. He would sell to anybidder, and during the five years which the war (afterwards calledthe Seven Years' War) had now lasted, had so exhausted the males ofhis principality, that the fields remained untilled: even thechildren of twelve years old were driven off to the war, and I sawherds of these wretches marching forwards, attended by a fewtroopers, now under the guidance of a red-coated Hanovariansergeant, now with a Prussian sub-officer accompanying them; withsome of whom my companion exchanged signs of recognition.'It hurts my feelings,' said he, 'to be obliged to commune with suchwretches; but the stern necessities of war demand men continually,and hence these recruiters whom you see market in human flesh. Theyget five-and-twenty dollars from our Government for every man theybring in. For fine men--for men like you,' he added, laughing, 'wewould go as high as a hundred. In the old King's time we would havegiven a thousand for you, when he had his giant regiment that ourpresent monarch disbanded.''I knew one of them,' said I, 'who served with you: we used to callhim Morgan Prussia.''Indeed; and who was this Morgan Prussia?''Why, a huge grenadier of ours, who was somehow snapped up inHanover by some of your recruiters.''The rascals!' said my friend: 'and did they dare take anEnglishman?'''Faith this was an Irishman, and a great deal too sharp for them;as you shall hear. Morgan was taken, then, and drafted into thegiant guard, and was the biggest man almost among all the giantsthere. Many of these monsters used to complain of their life, andtheir caning, and their long drills, and their small pay; but Morganwas not one of the grumblers. "It's a deal better," said he, "to getfat here in Berlin, than to starve in rags in Tipperary!"''Where is Tipperary?' asked my companion.'That is exactly what Morgan's friends asked him. It is a beautifuldistrict in Ireland, the capital of which is the magnificent city ofClonmel: a city, let me tell you, sir, only inferior to Dublin andLondon, and far more sumptuous than any on the Continent. Well,Morgan said that his birthplace was near that city, and the onlything which caused him unhappiness, in his present situation, wasthe thought that his brothers were still starving at home, when theymight be so much better off in His Majesty's service.'"'Faith," says Morgan to the sergeant, to whom he imparted theinformation, "it's my brother Bin that would make the fine sergeantof the guards, entirely!"'"Is Ben as tall as you are?" asked the sergeant.'"As tall as me, is it? Why, man, I'm the shortest of my family!There's six more of us, but Bin's the biggest of all. Oh! out andout the biggest. Seven feet in his stockin-fut, as sure as my name'sMorgan!"'"Can't we send and fetch them over, these brothers of yours?"'"Not you. Ever since I was seduced by one of you gentlemen of thecane, they've a mortal aversion to all sergeants," answered Morgan:"but it's a pity they cannot come, too. What a monster Bin would bein a grenadier's cap!"'He said nothing more at the time regarding his brothers, but onlysighed as if lamenting their hard fate. However, the story was toldby the sergeant to the officers, and by the officers to the Kinghimself; and His Majesty was so inflamed by curiosity, that heactually consented to let Morgan go home in order to bring back withhim his seven enormous brothers.''And were they as big as Morgan pretended?' asked my comrade. Icould not help laughing at his simplicity.'Do you suppose,' cried I, 'that Morgan ever came back? No, no; oncefree, he was too wise for that. He has bought a snug farm inTipperary with the money that was given him to secure his brothers;and I fancy few men of the guards ever profited so much by it.'The Prussian captain laughed exceedingly at this story, said thatthe English were the cleverest nation in the world, and, on mysetting him right, agreed that the Irish were even more so. We rodeon very well pleased with each other; for he had a thousand storiesof the war to tell, of the skill and gallantry of Frederick, and thethousand escapes, and victories, and defeats scarcely less gloriousthan victories, through which the King had passed. Now that I was agentleman, I could listen with admiration to these tales: and yetthe sentiment recorded at the end of the last chapter was uppermostin my mind but three weeks back, when I remembered that it was thegreat general got the glory, and the poor soldier only insult andthe cane.'By the way, to whom are you taking despatches?' asked the officer.It was another ugly question, which I determined to answer at hap-hazard; and so I said 'To General Rolls.' I had seen the general ayear before, and gave the first name in my head. My friend was quitesatisfied with it, and we continued our ride until evening came on;and our horses being weary, it was agreed that we should come to ahalt.'There is a very good inn,' said the Captain, as we rode up to whatappeared to me a very lonely-looking place.'This may be a very good inn for Germany,' said I, 'but it would notpass in old Ireland. Corbach is only a league off: let us push onfor Corbach.''Do you want to see the loveliest woman in Europe?' said theofficer. 'Ah! you sly rogue, I see that will influence you;' and,truth to say, such a proposal was always welcome to me, as I don'tcare to own. 'The people are great farmers,' said the Captain, 'aswell as innkeepers;' and, indeed, the place seemed more a farm thanan inn yard. We entered by a great gate into a Court walled round,and at one end of which was the building, a dingy ruinous place. Acouple of covered waggens were in the court, their horses werelittered under a shed hard by, and lounging about the place weresome men and a pair of sergeants in the Prussian uniform, who bothtouched their hats to my friend the Captain. This customaryformality struck me as nothing extraordinary, but the aspect of theinn had something exceedingly chilling and forbidding in it, and Iobserved the men shut to the great yard-gates as soon as we wereentered. Parties of French horsemen, the Captain said, were aboutthe country, and one could not take too many precautions againstsuch villains.We went into supper, after the two sergeants had taken charge of ourhorses; the Captain, also, ordering one of them to take my valise tomy bedroom. I promised the worthy fellow a glass of schnapps for hispains.A dish of fried eggs-and-bacon was ordered from a hideous old wenchthat came to serve us, in place of the lovely creature I hadexpected to see; and the Captain, laughing, said, 'Well, our meal isa frugal one, but a soldier has many a time a worse:' and, takingoff his hat, sword-belt, and gloves, with great ceremony, he satdown to eat. I would not be behindhand with him in politeness, andput my weapon securely on the old chest of drawers where his waslaid.The hideous old woman before mentioned brought us in a pot of verysour wine, at which and at her ugliness I felt a considerable ill-humour.'Where's the beauty you promised me?' said I, as soon as the old haghad left the room.'Bah!' said he, laughing, and looking hard at me: 'it was my joke. Iwas tired, and did not care to go farther. There's no prettier womanhere than that. If she won't suit your fancy, my friend, you mustwait a while.'This increased my ill-humour.'Upon my word, sir,' said I sternly, 'I think you have acted verycoolly!''I have acted as I think fit!' replied the captain.'Sir,' said I, 'I'm a British officer!''It's a lie!' roared the other, 'you're a deserter! You're animpostor, sir; I have known you for such these three hours. Isuspected you yesterday. My men heard of a man escaping fromWarburg, and I thought you were the man. Your lies and folly haveconfirmed me. You pretend to carry despatches to a general who hasbeen dead these ten months: you have an uncle who is an ambassador,and whose name forsooth you don't know. Will you join and take thebounty, sir; or will you be given up?''Neither!' said I, springing at him like a tiger. But, agile as Iwas, he was equally on his guard. He took two pistols out of hispocket, fired one off, and said, from the other end of the tablewhere he stood dodging me, as it were,--'Advance a step, and I send this bullet into your brains!' Inanother minute the door was flung open, and the two sergeantsentered, armed with musket and bayonet to aid their comrade.The game was up. I flung down a knife with which I had armed myself;for the old hag on bringing in the wine had removed my sword.'I volunteer,' said I.'That's my good fellow. What name shall I put on my list?''Write Redmond Barry of Bally Barry,' said I haughtily; 'adescendant of the Irish kings!''I was once with the Irish brigade, Roche's,' said the recruiter,sneering, 'trying if I could get any likely fellows among the fewcountrymen of yours that are in the brigade, and there was scarcelyone of them that was not descended from the kings of Ireland.''Sir,' said I, 'king or not, I am a gentleman, as you can see.''Oh! you will find plenty more in our corps,' answered the Captain,still in the sneering mood. 'Give up your papers, Mr. Gentleman, andlet us see who you really are.'As my pocket-book contained some bank-notes as well as papers of Mr.Fakenham's, I was not willing to give up my property; suspectingvery rightly that it was but a scheme on the part of the Captain toget and keep it.'It can matter very little to you,' said I, 'what my private papersare: I am enlisted under the name of Redmond Barry.''Give it up, sirrah!' said the Captain, seizing his cane.'I will not give it up!' answered I.'Hound! do you mutiny?' screamed he, and, at the same time, gave mea lash across the face with the cane, which had the anticipatedeffect of producing a struggle. I dashed forward to grapple withhim, the two sergeants flung themselves on me, I was thrown to theground and stunned again; being hit on my former wound in the head.It was bleeding severely when I came to myself, my laced coat wasalready torn off my back, my purse and papers gone, and my handstied behind my back.The great and illustrious Frederick had scores of these white slave-dealers all round the frontiers of his kingdom, debauching troops orkidnapping peasants, and hesitating at no crime to supply thosebrilliant regiments of his with food for powder; and I cannot helptelling here, with some satisfaction, the fate which ultimatelybefell the atrocious scoundrel who, violating all the rights offriendship and good-fellowship, had just succeeded in entrapping me.This individual was a person of high family and known talents andcourage, but who had a propensity to gambling and extravagance, andfound his calling as a recruit-decoy far more profitable to him thanhis pay of second captain in the line. The sovereign, too, probablyfound his services more useful in the former capacity. His name wasMonsieur de Galgenstein, and he was one of the most successful ofthe practisers of his rascally trade. He spoke all languages, andknew all countries, and hence had no difficulty in finding out thesimple braggadocio of a young lad like me.About 1765, however, he came to his justly merited end. He was atthis time living at Kehl, opposite Strasburg, and used to take hiswalk upon the bridge there, and get into conversation with theFrench advanced sentinels; to whom he was in the habit of promising'mountains and marvels,' as the French say, if they would takeservice in Prussia. One day there was on the bridge a superbgrenadier, whom Galgenstein accosted, and to whom he promised acompany, at least, if he would enlist under Frederick.'Ask my comrade yonder,' said the grenadier; 'I can do nothingwithout him. We were born and bred together, we are of the samecompany, sleep in the same room, and always go in pairs. If he willgo and you will give him a captaincy, I will go too.''Bring your comrade over to Kehl,' said Galgenstein, delighted. 'Iwill give you the best of dinners, and can promise to satisfy bothof you.''Had you not better speak to him on the bridge?' said the grenadier.'I dare not leave my post; but you have but to pass, and talk overthe matter.'Galgenstein, after a little parley, passed the sentinel; butpresently a panic took him, and he retraced his steps. But thegrenadier brought his bayonet to the Prussian's breast and bade himstand: that he was his prisoner.The Prussian, however, seeing his danger, made a bound across thebridge and into the Rhine; whither, flinging aside his musket, theintrepid sentry followed him. The Frenchman was the better swimmerof the two, seized upon the recruiter, and bore him to the Strasburgside of the stream, where he gave him up.'You deserve to be shot,' said the general to him, 'for abandoningyour post and arms; but you merit reward for an act of courage anddaring. The King prefers to reward you,' and the man received moneyand promotion.As for Galgenstein, he declared his quality as a nobleman and acaptain in the Prussian service, and applications were made toBerlin to know if his representations were true. But the King,though he employed men of this stamp (officers to seduce thesubjects of his allies) could not acknowledge his own shame. Letterswere written back from Berlin to say that such a family existed inthe kingdom, but that the person representing himself to belong toit must be an impostor, for every officer of the name was at hisregiment and his post. It was Galgenstein's death-warrant, and hewas hanged as a spy in Strasburg.'Turn him into the cart with the rest,' said he, as soon as I awokefrom my trance.