"So," he said, "you're the _Volontaires_ who have been sent to demoralise my regiment. Well, there are a few things I want you to remember; you are serving five times less than other troopers; you will therefore have five times more work, five times more punishments, and five times less leave than the rest." Then turning towards the non-commissioned officer: "Dismiss your men," he said, and at the same time he walked away with our Captain. Before dismissing us our Sergeant also thought fit to address us: "You are now going to be under my orders," he began, "and you may have been told that the _Volontaires_ who served last year had a good time of it, but if you think that you are going to be treated as they were, you are jolly well mistaken. I mean to make you work, and to make you work hard too. There are a few hard-mouthed ones among you. I will use the curb with them so as to soon break them in." With these words he dismissed us. As we were running off to the canteen he recalled us. "At eleven o'clock," he said, "you will have to be at the gymnasium without arms." So saying, he dismissed us once more. It was then a quarter to eleven, so that we hardly had any time for our food. At eleven o'clock sharp we were all standing where he had ordered us, and the Corporal, having dressed us in a single file, stood grumbling at not having had time for his meal. It was raining hard, and as the Sergeant had not appeared at the end of a quarter of an hour, the Corporal took us inside one of the stables. Nearly three-quarters of an hour elapsed before Legros turned up. He marched us to a room specially reserved as a schoolroom for _Volontaires_, and also used as a lecture-room for those troopers who aspired to pass the examination necessary for obtaining the rank of Corporal. At the end of the room stood a raised platform with a desk for the Sergeant, while we sat at tables, twelve to fourteen of which stood in pairs facing the Sergeant's desk. Having been ordered to take our seats, we placed ourselves as we liked, all those belonging to my set selecting a table far away from the Sergeant's desk. He began by giving us a list of books we were to purchase--viz.: 1. "General Instructions as to the Service in Barracks" (_Service Intérieur des Troupes de Cavalerie_). 2. "Cavalry Drill Regulations" (_Réglement sur les Exercices de la Cavalerie_). 3. "The Duties of Cavalry in the Field" (_Service de la Cavalerie en Campagne_). 4. "Moral Duties of the Soldier." 5. "Dismounted Cavalry Drill Regulations" (_Réglement sur les Exercices de la Cavalerie à pied_).