Deuce take it! Was not this passion for similarity enough to madden one? Must everything be tainted by this damned, regular, grinding drill, this parade-march sort of principle? Must things everywhere run smoothly and according to rule, just in order that the authorities might be convinced of the excellence of the whole system? So even the punishment-register should be carefully edited! No one must lift his head above his fellows! It was really laughable. Teachers might have bad pupils; but it seemed to be against the rules for the captain of a battery to have bad soldiers in his troop! Luckily for him, he happened to be in very favourable circumstances. He had a colonel who stood up for him, and who could dare to express a difference of opinion from his superior officer, because he himself chanced to be in the good books of the king. So that this affair would pass by all right and do nobody any harm. But what would have happened if the colonel himself had felt uncertain of his position? Would he have found the moral courage to oppose his influential superior, even if only by a modest remonstrance? Would he not rather, for the sake of his career, have said, merely: "Certainly, sir!" And then the pressure would have gone on downwards; and among a hundred captains there were certainly but few who, in the struggle between their better knowledge and their future career, would remain true to their convictions. Most of them would bring the punishment-register up to the "desirable" regularity, and just do as best they could with the bad elements in their batteries: the men who sneered at all discipline, and whom nevertheless their captain dared not punish properly; who spoilt the good soldiers, and increased the dislike of the reservists for the service. Otherwise the punishment-register might exceed the average demanded, and "that would cause unfavourable conclusions as to the discipline of the battery and the capability of the captain." Güntz rode slowly back along the grassy lane. He looked around him. Yonder the white walls of the barracks gleamed in the sunshine; a fresh wind gently shook the budding branches, and all around everything was sprouting, filled with the vigour of youth. He guided his horse carefully round a patch of primroses, which covered the whole width of the path with a sheet of yellow blossoms. He bade dull care begone. Could he not at any time quit the service directly he became convinced of its ineffectiveness? To-day's experience was simply a fresh weight in the scales of his doubt. He had once more determined to apply all his strength to the solution of a problem, which had been in his mind even at the time of his employment in Berlin.