hat I can't drink in the morning.
Pray, captain, give me your cork-screw. I take you to be the right sort
of man, and the right sort of man always has a cork-screw in his
pocket."

Smiling, Eric handed him his knife, which was fitted with a cork-screw.

While the Major was opening the bottle, he said,--

"And another mark of a genuine man is, that he can whistle. Comrade, be
so kind as to whistle once for me."

Laughter prevented Eric from drawing up his lips. The bottle was
uncorked, and they drank to good comradeship. The Major said,--

"Perhaps we are in better spirits here, than our friend Sonnenkamp in
his grand villa. But Herr captain, I say again, an elephant is happy,
and a fly is happy too; only the elephant has a larger proboscis than
the fly."

The Major laughed till he shook with delight at his comparison, and
Eric found the laughter contagious, and as often as they looked at each
other, the laughter began afresh.

"You show me the meaning of the proverb," cried Eric, "'a gnat may be
taken for an elephant,' and in fact it is correct; not the size, not
the mass, but the organism is the life."

"Just so, just so!" exclaimed the Major. "Fraeulein Milch, come in again
a moment."

Fraeulein Milch, who had left the room, re-entered, and the Major
continued,--

"Pray, captain, say that once more about the organism. That is the sort
of thing for Fraeulein Milch, for, look you, she studies much more than
she chooses to let any one know. If you please, comrade, the organism
once more. I can't tell it half so well."

What was Eric to do? He explained his figure again, and the laughter
broke out anew.

Fraeulein Milch recommended to Eric the school-master of the village, as
a remarkably fine writer, and the Major cried, laughing,--

"Yes, comrade, Fraeulein Milch is a living roll of honor for the whole
region; if you want information about anyone, ask her. And for Heaven's
sake, don't let the Countess Wolfsgarten give you any medicine.
Fraeulein Milch knows much more about it--and no one can apply leeches
so well as she can."

Eric saw the good old woman's embarrassment, and began to praise her
beautiful flowers, and thriving plants, which stood in the window. The
Major asserted that she understood gardening perhaps even better than
Herr Sonnenkamp, and if it were only known with what small means she
raised her plants, she would get the first prize at the exhibition,
instead of the gentlemen with thei