The idea at once occurred to me of saving Hoch from punishment if it were possible. I accordingly asked the officer to delay his answer to the Ober-Kommando for an hour. Having granted the request, he left me and I immediately went to the room of Non-Commissioned Officer Hoch. Directly he saw me he realized that something was wrong. “We are having some annoyances,” he said. “Yes, but the matter is not very serious. This is the trouble we have to face.” I related what had just taken place between the officer and myself, whereupon the poor non-commissioned officer, lifting his arms, exclaimed: “I am done for!” “No, no,” I said, “I assure you that all is not lost. There is a means to arrange matters.” “How?” he asked. “Well, according to regulations, one day each week you spend the afternoon in town. Let us suppose,” I said, “that the afternoon the instructions concerning me were read by the sergeant-major, you were absent.” “Ah!” replied Hoch; “but I was present.” “I am not asking you,” I said, “if you were present. I am affirming that you were absent.…” “Very well,” said he, “but the sergeant-major will remember that I was present.” “I will attend to this,” I said. “For the time being we will take it that you were absent when the instructions were read.” I left him, and proceeded to the sergeant-major’s room. This officer was at that time a sick man, and had consulted me three or four times about some kidney trouble he was suffering. He was surprised to see me and asked the reason for my visit. “Well,” I said, “you remember the famous instructions concerning me? Three months ago, when you read them to the non-commissioned officers, Non-Commissioned Officer Hoch was out on his afternoon leave, was he not?” “That is true,” he said. “Well, on my last outing, I asked him to pass along Koenig street with me, and he consented.” “Then there was no offence,” said the sergeant-major. “Certainly not,” I agreed. “There is need only for a little explanation.” I went on speaking of other matters, particularly of his illness, and leaving him then I hurried off to see Officer Block. I explained to him that when the instructions concerning myself were read three months previously Non-Commissioned Officer Hoch was absent. “Well,” he said, “I will report in that sense.” We waited four days for the outcome of this explanation, and during this time Hoch was in terrible fear. He imagined himself condemned to the dungeon or sent back to the trenches where three of his brothers had been killed. Finally, on the fourth day, Lieutenant Block told me he had received the answer from the Ober-Kommando. “The explanation,” the document stated, “is satisfactory, but Non-Commissioned Officer Hoch must be severely reprimanded.” “I hope the reprimand will not be too severe,” I ventured to say. Lieut. Block did not reply. A German officer never commits himself when discipline is in question.