red at each
other.

"Oh, I see, it is you, old fellow. And what do you want of me?"

"This is what I want!" shouted Schmitz, and with terrific force his
cane came down on Roth's head. A second blow followed, almost as hard,
which hit him on the cheek, so that the blood rushed out of the wound.
The "Vice," taken unawares, made no motion to defend himself while
Schmitz rained a shower of strokes on his body. Then at last Roth,
wide awake now, felt for his sabre, partly drawing it from its
scabbard; but Schmitz gave him no chance to use it. Like a famished
wolf he seized his enemy by the throat, throttling him, and, dropping
his cane, with his clenched fist he dealt him several fearful blows on
forehead and mouth, winding up with a tattoo that sounded like the
beating of a drum on the man's skull. A violent push made Roth stumble
and fall to his knees.

"So, now, you miserable cur, I have paid my debt to you!" and saying
which, he kicked his fallen foe. Then he turned on his heels and said,
as a parting shot:

"Now go and report me again, you swine; but if you do I shall have
another reckoning with you, and tell about some of your thieving!"

The former "foddermaster" felt that he had meted out justice, and he
was fully prepared to take the consequences, no matter what they might
be. Revenge is a sweet morsel.

Roth had to spend several weeks in the hospital, until he had
recovered from his injuries. It was the hardest drubbing he had ever
received in his life. Vanity forbade him to give a true version of the
assault. He reported that he had been attacked by several drunken
laborers, and claimed to have used his sabre with effect on one of
them; but nobody believed his tale, for no wounded laborer was heard
of in the little town, and physicians there and in the vicinity were
equally ignorant of such a case. It was, therefore, generally assumed
that Roth had met with his deserts at the hands of the ex-sergeant,
and nobody pitied him.

CHAPTER V

OFFICERS AT A MASQUERADE

During the last days of January the Casino was in an uproar. A number
of mechanics, painters, and florists were busy transforming the rooms
and corridors, even the veranda, with its adjoining conservatory, into
a suite of daintily decorated festal halls. Numerous booths and tents
were being erected, and all other preparations were made worthily to
receive Prince Carnival, whose coming was timed for the first week in
February.

Hundred