“Ah, presence of mind, presence of mind, there’s nothing like having presence of mind in an emergency. The deuce! the very last thing we’d want on the battle-field would be a nag that stumbles and falls.--Keep right on, Sergeant Möller,” he added, turning to the latter, who had stopped calling the roll to listen to the Captain’s speech, and looked up to his superior with unbounded reverence. “Keep right on; never mind me. I always take this time to examine not only the battalion within and without, but the barracks as well--yes, the barracks.” Saying these words, he had twice pranced round about the battalion, casting many a glance into an open door which, as the emerging smoke would indicate, marked the entrance to the regimental kitchen. “What is the story about the horse?” the young lieutenant asked his superior. The latter shrugged his shoulders gently to and fro, and then replied, “The--horse--behaved--rather--badly,--the--Herr--Captain--thought-- best--to--chastise--him,--and when--the--horse--took--it--ill,--they-- parted company,--you--see. As--a--well-deserved--punishment--Cæsar--is-- to--come--to--parade--for--twelve--consecutive--days--saddled--and packed with--the--full--equipment--for--battle.” “Seems to me that is harder on the groom than it is on the horse.” “Does--it--strike--you--so?” remarked Lieutenant von Schwenkenberg with imperturbable tranquillity. Now the voice of the Captain was heard again. “Lieutenant Schwarz, will you have the goodness to look at this man of your column.” He had ordered a man in the left wing to turn around, and was standing close before him. “I have told you, no doubt, that it takes a practised eye; look closely at the man, will you? Well? What is it? What do you see that’s wrong about him?” The young officer inspected him carefully from all sides, but he was bound to confess, with a shrug of his shoulders, that he saw nothing unusual. The Captain smiled with evident satisfaction. Then he said in a gratified tone, “Ah yes, a practised eye is not a thing to be acquired in a day or two. Just look at the buttons on his jacket.” “They are not polished as brightly as they might be,” the young officer remarked timidly.