“No, mine is not dead men’s money,” Roth sneered. “All it takes is to be shrewd and to gather up all the money that crosses your path.” “I suppose you’ve slain a rich Jew!”[12] [12] “Slain a rich Jew,” a German phrase for “suddenly acquired wealth.”--TR. “Not precisely,” said Roth, mysteriously. “Well, I don’t catch your meaning,” put in the other. Roth winked at his wife and then at Schmitz, to show that she was not to hear his confidences; but when she rose immediately after, to fetch another bottle of wine, he said in whispers: “I’ll tell you, if you want to know; but--” he put his index finger significantly to his mouth--“Mum’s the word!” “Oh, of course; don’t be afraid. I never betray my pals!” “Well, then, I will tell you. This is the second time I am in command of the reserves. Last time we had a whole lot of one year’s volunteers amongst them, mostly well-to-do farmer boys. You remember ‘Fatty’ Kramer, that swine, and Rossbach, whose father at home has twelve horses in the stable, and Scheller, the fellow who was always running after the girls, and that whole crowd? Fellows of that sort, you see, don’t know what to do with their money, and I wouldn’t be such an ass as to give them their pay, their uniform allowance, and so on; they don’t care about those measly few coins. Scheller, besides, gave me a chance to make some money outside of that. The last night before he had finished his two years, I happened to inspect his quarters, it being considerably past taps. And what do I see but this very fellow, Scheller, together with--well, you know--and as I was just about to raise the deuce, he whispers in my ear: ‘Don’t say anything, please!’ Well, then, I kept my mouth shut, and at noon the following day there was a ‘blue rag’[13] in my overcoat pocket.” [13] “Blue rag,” German slang term for bank notes of large amount.--TR. “The deuce you say! What luck! But supposing these fellows afterwards give you away, especially if they don’t get their promotions?” “Oh, they won’t say anything; they are glad enough if they can stay away from the army. As to promotions, most of them were not the kind to think about such a thing.” “Well, I in your place should be afraid there might be trouble some time, and then think what a rumpus there would be!” “Leave me alone for that. Just now there are a couple more of these rich, stupid fellows; there is the son of a butcher in Brunswick whose father must be worth a million or so, and the others, too, have lots of money to burn. What do you suppose I’ll make out of them before they leave the squadron? They are worth at least a couple of hundred apiece to me. Well, _Prosit!_” They clinked glasses. The glasses rang out harmoniously, and the next instant they were emptied of the last drops. “How do you like this stuff? Costs six marks the bottle! Of course, _I_ didn’t pay for it,”--with another wink. “Horribly expensive; where did you get it?”