He was smoking his morning cigar with considerable zest and reading the _Deutsche Zeitung_, which the letter-carrier had just left for the colonel. He was at leisure just then, for the colonel had gone on horseback to view the regimental drill on the parade grounds, quite a distance from town; and on such days it was the habit of the adjutant to recompense himself by a sound matutinal slumber for the nightly sleep he had missed in attending this banquet or that carousal. Krohn was deep in the study of the advertisements he had found in the paper when his “colleague,” Sergeant-Major Schönemann, stepped up to him, dragging his clanking sabre at his heels, and with a cigarette between his lips. “Morning, morning, Herr Commander!” he addressed Krohn in a jocular spirit. “What is the news?” The minor dignitary thus addressed smiled pleasantly, and sent a small cloud of fragrant smoke into the air before answering. “Great things are going on, noble brother-in-arms. I had almost forgotten about that.” “You don’t say! Has H. M. at last sent me a decoration?” “Not precisely, but something almost as unlikely,--König has been placed under arrest.” “What? König? Thunder and lightning! What the dickens has he been doing?” “Why, they say he has been putting his fingers into the squadron fund, and that some of the gold has stuck to them. Really, it’s a disgrace; a fellow like him, too, quite wealthy, and all that.” “The devil! I should never have supposed that of him; no, not of _him_! And how did they find it out?” “Haven’t the faintest idea. I presume the colonel must have heard something about it. Yesterday afternoon he had him up in his room and charged him with the thing to his face. I peeped through the key-hole, and saw the poor fellow becoming pale under the accusation. He wanted to fetch his books at once; but the colonel wouldn’t listen to him, and ordered him forthwith under arrest.” “But these two used to get along so well together!” “Of course! And I presume there must be some truth to the story, else the colonel would probably have managed the thing otherwise, especially as he himself is in disfavor with the powers that be. This new affair will break his neck.” “Well, as for me,” said Schönemann, “I don’t believe in the story until I see it in print. König is not at all that sort of fellow. And the colonel always flies off the handle and seems to be glad when he has a chance of showing his authority. He thinks that is smart!” “Oh, I don’t know, and what’s more, I don’t care.” * * * * * The explanation of all this conversation is a very simple one. We remember that First Lieutenant Borgert, before seeking fresh fields for his energy, had made up his mind to get even with Captain König for that curt letter in which the captain had refused to accede to Leimann’s request for another large loan.