ding from an official document in his hand, "I am directed by the
general commanding the Tenth Army Corps, in the order of the day, to
signalise the distinguished gallantry which the said Fritz Dort
displayed yesterday in the face of the enemy at the engagement in front
of Gravelotte, when, on the falling of the officer leading the company
to which he was attached, the said Fritz Dort bravely stepped to the
front, and taking his commander's vacant post, led on his men to capture
the French battery, which they were detailed to take by storm. For such
conspicuously good service in action, the general commanding hereby
promotes the said Fritz Dort to be a sub-lieutenant in the same
regiment, trusting that, as an officer, he will perform his duty as he
has done as a private soldier and meet with the obedience and honour of
those with whom he has previously served as a brother comrade, none the
less on account of his promotion from the ranks which as one of
themselves he has adorned!"

A loud "Hurrah!" broke from all the men when the major had finished
reading this document; and that officer then shook hands kindly with
Fritz, welcoming him cordially to the higher station he had attained.
The other subalterns also advanced, doing the same; while, on retiring
from the parade, the men of the rank and file, without receiving any
order to that effect, gave the young hero a general salute, in token of
their respect and recognition of his new dignity as an officer over
them.

Fritz's heart was bursting with joy at his unexpected promotion. He
thought how proud his mother would be to hear of it; but, before writing
home by the afternoon field post, as he intended doing, he determined to
carry out the promise he had made to himself, and which he held as
equally binding as if it had been made in the presence of witnesses--the
promise to bury the body of the dead officer which he had come across in
the wood, guarded by his faithful dog.

"Heinrich!" he called out to the man who, as his whilom comrade, had
preserved his rations for him. He forgot for the moment the altered
condition of their respective ranks.

"Ja, Herr Lieutenant," said Heinrich, much to his surprise, stepping out
towards him and saluting, with forefinger to pickelhaube, as straight as
a ramrod.

"Bother!" exclaimed Fritz, a bit puzzled at first by the inconvenience
in some ways of his exaltation in rank. There was some difficulty at
first in accommodating h