'Stop!' cried Kolbert, holding fast his officer. 'Your bishop will by that movement remain uncovered, and I shall immediately take him.'
'Take him,' said Arwed. 'Your knight is troublesome to me, and must die.'
'A mere exchange, for the sake of exchanging,--that is manifestly contrary to the etiquette of the game!'
'It was not a mere exchange,' protested Arwed. 'You had a mischievous plan. Had you led him out, I were lost. Your knight in the place where he stood was worth more than an ordinary officer, and I could no longer defend myself against him. Wherefore I exchanged to advantage, and I should always do the same under like circumstances. Even if my opponent lose no more than myself by the movement, yet I win temporary relief at least, break up his attack, and compel him to resort to new manœuvres.'
'And to use the king like a subaltern officer is not civil,' grumbled Kolbert.
'My king shall not keep himself behind the cannon, like a Persian shah,' answered Arwed. 'Whenever necessity requires it, he must expose himself as well as one of his soldiers.'
'A regular Charles XIIth,' cried some one behind him, with a scornful laugh. Arwed turned suddenly round and perceived the chief engineer, Megret, a Frenchman by birth, who with a satyr-like face was leaning over the back of his chair.
'I thank you for the comparison, colonel, even though it was ironically intended,' said the youth in a decidedly cutting tone. 'Would to God that we all, not excepting even you, were able to imitate the elevated character of our noble king in good and evil fortune; what accomplished men should we then be!'
Megret bit his lips and retired to another table, where he got up a company to play pharo.
'This is my first campaign,' proceeded Arwed with enthusiasm: 'and I have seen the king in battle only twice in my life, but that has furnished sufficient proof of his worth as a brave warrior and skilful commander. He is always great, but when he has his sword in his hand he is more than man--almost a demi-god--and one feels tempted to worship him.'