"The doctor is coming," he said.
Immediately afterwards the portly assistant medical-officer, Rademacher, came down into the hollow. "Well, what is the matter here?" he asked.
He turned first of all to the driver, but Sickel motioned him away; "Excuse me, sir, but there's plenty of time for me. The other man there needs you more."
Rademacher bent down over Klitzing. When he saw the blood-stained froth on the lips his face involuntarily put on a grave expression. He laid his ear to the chest and listened for a long time.
"What happened to the man?" he inquired.
Vogt pointed to Eidechse, who was gazing across at them with dull eyes, and answered: "She kicked him in the chest."
"Badly?"
"Yes, sir. He threw himself between, so that I should not be kicked again."
The fat doctor looked up surprised. This was an unusually touching incident in the rough life of a soldier. He saw the tears in the young man's honest eyes, and he understood.
"Then you were great friends?"