He gazed round, not trusting his eyes.
This was indeed the old dormitory in which he had slept these two years. A lot of people were standing together and speaking with excited gestures. The air was thick with dust, as if from a fight; and just by the press, near a bundle of clothing, lay a man, his arms tied behind his back, his face deadly pale, and his chest heaving. It was Findeisen. And four soldiers were lifting another--Sergeant Keyser--who lay stretched out by the wall near the window. The sergeant's face was quite white, and his limbs hung limply down from his body.
"He's done for!" said the voice of Sergeant-major Heppner. "Carry him to his room and lay him on his bed."
And four soldiers carried the dead man past Wolf out through the door.
The sergeant-major sent away the other loitering gunners, and only the non-commissioned officers remained in the room with the two bound men.
Heppner stepped up to Wolf and looked him over from head to foot.
"Your fine civilian clothes, my lad," he said, "will have to lie a bit longer in the chest."
He picked out Wolf's things from the bundles scattered about the room, and threw them over the reservist's shoulders.
"There," he said mockingly, "that will suit your complexion better. And what'll suit you best of all is a convict's grey suit. In the meantime, just get yourself up as a gunner again, my son."
He ordered two of the non-commissioned officers to put Wolf and Findeisen under arrest.