Although my Sergeant-major had altered his behaviour towards me, he could only help me in the squadron, having no power over the _Volontaires_, who were under the absolute command of Sergeant Legros. Captain Hermann, who was nominally our chief, and who was supposed to give us lectures twice a week, never took the trouble to do so, and we scarcely ever saw him for more than a few minutes at a time. He left, in fact, the whole of our instruction in Legros' hands, and the latter's powers seemed to become greater every week. Hitherto, whenever we had wanted to apply for leave we used to send our application through the usual channel, handing it over to our Sergeant-major, who transmitted it to the Captain; but the Colonel issued a regimental order to the effect that in future any _Volontaire_ wishing to get leave would have to apply for it through Sergeant Legros. Our Captain also strictly forbade us to apply for ten o'clock or midnight leave from the officer of the week (to whom all such demands were made by the other troopers), and told us that in future we should have to apply on the Saturday to Sergeant Legros for any leave we might wish to obtain. He added that any _Volontaire_ who applied for leave to the Lieutenant of his company, or to the Sergeant-major, would be punished with eight days' _Salle de Police_ for having done so. It is needless to say that I never obtained a single day's regular leave after that; but I cared little, as my Sergeant-major had become so friendly to me that he used to give me whatever leave I wanted.