The officer handed me back my paper first, saying:
"You will rejoin your battalion to-morrow, two leagues hence, near Torgau."
Then the old soldier, looking at me, placed his hand upon the ground, to show that there was room beside him, and I seated myself. I opened my knapsack, and put on new stockings and shoes, which I had brought from Leipzig, after which I felt much better.
The old man asked:
"You are rejoining your corps?"
"Yes; the Sixth at Torgau."
"And you came from?"——
"The hospital at Leipzig."
"That is easily seen," said he; "you are fat as a beadle. They fed you on chickens down there, while we were eating cow-beef."
I looked around at my sleeping neighbors. He was right; the poor conscripts were mere skin and bone. They were bronzed as veterans, and scarcely seemed able to stand.