A can of beer, host! Quick! HOST. Who are you? SOLDIER. A deserter. MICHEL. Perhaps 'twas his love for his parents which made him desert. Poor fellow, do take pity on him, host. HOST. Why if he has money, there won't be any lack of beer. (_Goes into the house_.) [_Two hussars come riding and dismount_.] 1ST HUSS. Well, thank God, we've got so far! Your health, neighbor! SOLDIER. This is the border. 2D HUSS. Yes, Heaven be thanked! Didn't we have to ride for the sake of that fellow? Beer, host! HOST (_with several glasses_). Here, gentlemen, a fine, cool drink; you are all pretty warm. 1ST HUSS. Here, you rascal! To your health! SOLDIER. Best thanks, I will meantime hold your horses for you. 2D HUSS. The fellow can run! It's good that the border is never so very far away; for otherwise it would be deucedly hard service. 1ST HUSS. Well, we must go back, I suppose. Good-bye, deserter! Much luck on your way! [_They mount and ride away_.] HOST. Will you stay here? SOLDIER. No, I am going away; why I must enlist with the neighboring duke. HOST. Say, come and see me when you desert again. SOLDIER. Certainly. Farewell! [_They shake hands. Exeunt soldier and guests, exit host into the house. The curtain falls_.] INTERLUDE FISCHER. Why, it's getting wilder and wilder! What was the purpose of the last scene, I wonder? LEUTNER. Nothing at all, it is entirely superfluous; only to introduce some new nonsense. The theme of the cat is now lost entirely and there is no fixed point of view at all. SCHLOSS. I feel exactly as though I were intoxicated. MÜLLER. I say, in what period is the play supposed to be taking place? The hussars, of course, are a recent invention. SCHLOSS. We simply shouldn't bear it, but stamp hard. Now we haven't the faintest idea of what the play is coming to. FISCHER. And no love, either! Nothing in it for the heart, for the imagination. LEUTNER. As soon as any more of that nonsense occurs, for my part at least, I'll begin to stamp. WIESENER (_to his neighbor_). I like the play now. NEIGHBOR. Very fine, indeed, very fine; a great man, the author; he has imitated the _Magic Flute_ well. WIESENER. I liked the hussars particularly well; people seldom take the risk of bringing horses on the stage--and why not? They often have more sense than human beings. I would rather see a good horse than many a human being in the more modern plays. NEIGHBOR. The Moors in Kotzebue--a horse is after all nothing but another kind of Moor. WIESENER. Do you not know to what regiment the hussars belonged NEIGHBOR. I did not even look at them carefully. Too bad they went away so soon--indeed I'd rather like to see a whole play with nothing but hussars. I like the cavalry so much. LEUTNER (_to_ BÖTTICHER). What do you think of all this? BÖTTICH.