LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 596, 17 May 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HOW I FOUGHT MY FIRST DUEL.

( Continued.)

* There, stop that, you young rascal, ’ replied Dornberg, in affected anger, as ho threw a thick quarto volume at my head. ‘ Hallo, you fellows !’ cried Fischer, looking up as he made a pause in his cooking operations; ‘ what on earth are you thinking of, kicking up such an infernal row at this hour of the morning ? Why, you’ll be having Louis’s landlord fetching the police, or letting them know what’s in the wind; besides that, you ought to know better, Dornberg, than play such a dirty trick; you might have hurt Louis, and put an end to the whole affair even before it had begun. Come, youngster, no more humbug; be as quiet as you can, and don’t exert yourself; for you will have need of all your strength and energy in a very short time. Aud you, Dornberg, just get the bread aud buttersugar too, if you can find it—anything to keep you out of mischief. It’s enough to provoke a saiut to see old fellows like you act as if they didn’t care a button for the corps. I suppose you would think it fine fun if Klein were to thrash the youngster in the first two or three rounds.

* Don’t be a fool, Fischer,’ laughed Dornberg; ‘if you had not been so interested in watching that crazy old coffee machine you might have seen 1 never intended to touch Louis; and as for the row, why, I don’t think you’d wake old Fusel if you blew the house up. Now just leave that coffee alone for a moment, and tell mo what cuts I must look after, for that impudent young scamp there seems to fancy himself unassailable.’ ‘O, does he ? ’ growled Fischer; ‘ then I hope he mayn’t find himself mistaken. All I can say is, that you’ll have to keep a sharp look out for sabre cartes and low cartes in second and third cuts; above all, mind the sabre cartes; they come like lightning, and are as strong as a horse’s kick. Never mind the “ Durchgerissene” ’ (horizontal cuts iu carte peculiar to the Sohlager), ‘ Louis will manage to stop those; the lad’s quick enough, but I doubt the accuracy of his parry in the upper and lower portions; so you must be ready to fall in ou any pretext. We were all seated at table by this time, sipping the hot coffee as quickly as we dared ; for although my lodgings were not more than a quarter of an hour’s walk from the appointed place, we did not wish to be behind time, but rather the reverse. ‘ Well, youngster, how do you feci now ? ’ asked Dornberg, smiling good-naturedly. ‘O, all right,’ I answered as unconcernedly as I could, although I knew well enough that it was not ‘all right.’ Somehow or other the coffee seemed to have an oily taste, that did not agsee with me : the bread hard; the butter detestable; yet I felt bound to eat—although 1 had not the shadow of an appetite—lest 1 should lower myself iu the estimation of my two comrades ; conscious the while that my feigned vigorous attacks on the food did not deceive them in the slightest. Nor did it; lam certain of that." Both had had their first duel to fight, and however trilling the danger may be, you cannot look upon it with unconcern. Some may be affected less than others, but all experience a certain amount of discomposure; everything is arranged so coolly and iu .so business like a manner, that one has plenty of time for relleetion; no passion, no intense mental excitement to relieve the strain on the nerves. It is the unknown, the mysterious, the ignorance of one's own power, that makes the affair so peculiarly imitating to one’s nervous temperament. But a I these sensations disappear by degrees; so that when you have been out half a dozen times, you are able to treat the affair as coolly as you would a bout iu th&Jeucing school.

* All right, are you ?’ said Dornberg, with a peculiar smile. ‘ I’m glad to hear it. ’ After taking another sip of the almost boiling coffee, he continued, ‘ Feel a little queer here, though V laying his hand on his stomach; ‘an empty sort of feeling—not exactly cold, bixt shivery, eh?’

‘No-o-o; well—yes,’ I answered rather hesitatingly, wondering how he should know the exact symptoms I experienced, and half determined to deny the fact. * Ah, my lad, that’s just how I felt. What do you say, Fischer: weren’t you troubled like that ?’

* Yes, something of that sort, I think,’ answered Fischer, with a grin; 4 but one gets over it. Don’t let that bother you, youngster. ’ 4 No, don’t be anxious on that account,’ added Dornberg ; 4 you’ll feel all right when you have crossed swords a couple of minutes. But come, it’s time we left. And now, Louis, empty your cup, my lad ; you’ll feel all the better for it. ’

I took his advice, and thought the flavour of the coffee had wonderfully improved during the lost moment or two. As we walked along the narrow' pathw’ay across the fields, the rapid motion of our walk and the cool fresh air of a delightful spring morning acted on me like some invigorating draught. Unconsciously I broke into a merry little snatch of some popular student’s song, and then stopped as suddenly as 1 had begun, astonished at my own coolness.

4 Feeling all right now, I see,’ said Dornberg good-naturedly, as he put his arm through mine. 4 Take my word for it, when once you’ve tasted blood, you’ll want as much of it as you can get, and as often as you can.’ 4 Perhaps I may,’ I answered, ■with a forced laugh ; 4 but some people are satisfied without it. Look at Vogt, he never goes out now. ’

* Ay, ’ returned Do mb erg gravely ; ‘ but you see Vogt killed bis man, and a thirst for blood does not imply a thirst for life. ’ Then changing the conversation, as if he doubted its efficacy in cheering me up, he continued,

‘ You wouldn’t undertake a fine stroke at billiards now, I suppose, eh, my boy? Nerves rather too excited, I should say; at least they should if you feel as I felt on my first affair,’

* Shut up, Dornberg, and don’t try to make the lad nervous,’ remonstrated Fisher; ‘it doesn’t matter what you felt at first, but what you did afterwards. Now, Louis, don’t take any notice of him, he’s always trying to make people believe he’s a regular molly-coddle. Why, how do you think I found him one day ? Fast asleep, and he was going to fight Oehlenschlager. You’ve heard what sort of a swordsman that fellow was—a crasher, and no mistake. Yes, there was Dornberg half an hour before time, and as no one had come, what dees he do but lie down in the shade and go to sleep, and rest his head on his right arm too, like the thoughtless fool he was. It was well I came early, or he might have been so stiff in the arm that he could not have done anything. I gave him a bit of my mind, I can tell you, although he was my superior officer, for he had no right to do aught that might affect the corps through him. ’ ‘Ah,’ said Dornberg, comically, as he chuckled at the reminiscence, ‘ you should have heard the wigging he gave me, I could hardly believe ray ears. I never knew tbe like. ‘ Will you get up, you fool, you idiot! I never knew such a thoughtless donkey. By heavens, you deserve to have your skull cracked, and I hope you may. No, I don’t, either, for that would count against us; but it would serve you right all the same. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you—you —” ’ And Dornberg foamed and spluttered and danced about m imitation of Fischer’s memorable sermon, looking so ineffably ridiculous that I could not help roaring with laughter, while Fischer himself in vain attempted to frown down this ludicrous exhibition.

‘Come along, you fellows,’ he growled, after a fruitless attempt to suppress a smile, ‘ come along, or we shall be late ; see, the Vinumer are there already. ’ We were now close to the appointed place, and found fifty or sixty students already assembled there, early as it was. The Vinumer had taken up their quarters at the near side of the little lake, while our fellows were stationed some twenty paces further on. Midway between us were the two other corps —near to us the Schnapen, and between them and the Vinumer were the Spirituser, who had placed themselves about half-way between us and our foes ; this appearance of impartiality being owing to the fact that they provided the ‘ Unpartheiischer’ or judge. To get to our position we had to pass through the Vinumer camp, and I soon caught sight of Klein, who, while practising a few Lufthicbe (Practice cuts in the air, whence the name, to insure the certainty of cutting with the sharp edge. A sharp cut always causes a whistling sound ; a flat one a dull vibration, similar to the sound made by blowing through the loosely closed lips), that whistled shrilly, and to my ears most ominously, was laughing and joking with a group of youngsters.

As soon as he saw me he discontinued his practice, and, as we passed, gave a friendly nod, which I of course returned. Just before we came up to them, we heard one of the Yinumer youngsters say, * Give it him, Klein, and teach those Zythuser ‘foxes’ to Here Klein cut him short abruptly by telling him to hold his tongue, but not before Fischer had heard the youngster.

‘O, my man,’ he muttered, savagely, ‘ I’ll see whether the Zythuser ‘ foxes’ don’t teach you to keep a quiet tongue in your head. Here, my lad,’ he continued, catching hold of one of our youngster, ‘do you see that ‘ fox ?’ Yes. Then challenge him to-night, and tell every other ‘fox’ to do the same. D’ye understand ? But mind—wait till we leave this place. No quarrelling here.’ 1 There,’ said Dornberg, ‘ you’ve raised a hornets’ nest now. There will be a regular ‘ fox’ warfare, for their men will be sure to retaliate, ’

‘ What do I care ?’ answered Fischer, <*rimly; ‘it will teach them to be civil at any rate. By the bye, I don’t sec Mulheim here.’

‘Nor either of the other officers, Said I, ‘Visitors sleepy, I suppose.’ (To he continued.)