Part Four
[Hans, the Old Soldier]
Viggo was ten years old now. He no longer cared to become a viking when he grew up. To be an officer in the army was his one thought now; he would prefer to become a general of course, but if he couldn't be that at once, he would be satisfied to be a captain; he might become a general later. From whom do you suppose he had learned such things? From Hans, the old Grenadier.
Hans was Viggo's dearest friend, though he was cross and curt to other people. The servants on the farm often called the old Grenadier "Hans the Watchdog," for they said when he talked to anyone it sounded like a dog barking, and he looked as though he were ready to bite. But Viggo had once said that the Grenadier's voice sounded like the rattle of a drum, and the old soldier thought that was well said. It was really from that time on that Viggo and Hans were such good friends.
Hans the Grenadier was six feet-two, and a little more. He was broad shouldered and straight as a stick. His hair was long and snowy white, and it hung in a braid down his red soldier's coat.
When he came walking up to the farm from his little cottage he always carried the ax on the left shoulder, like a gun, and marched stiff and straight turning the toes well out, and kept step as if the sergeant was marching right at his heels, commanding "Left, right! Left, right!"
Hans wore yellow leather trousers, but suspenders he never used, so there was always a gap of three or four inches between the coat and the trousers where his shirt showed through, winter as well as summer. His hat was worn to a reddish-brown. It was wide at the crown and narrow at the brim, and there was a deep hollow in the top which filled with water when it rained. He always wore his hat a little on one ear. When Hans turned his toes out more than usual and put his hat too much on one side, the servants would say, "Both Hans the Watchdog and his goose pond are pretty well filled up to-day." And however much he disliked to, Viggo had to admit that this was a bad sign, for Hans had the sad fault of sometimes drinking a drop too much. But Viggo always knew that at such times Old Hans was most willing to tell about the time he served in the army, both in '88 and '89. Then he told of the battles at Kvistrum and at Lier, and first and last about the "Prince of Gustenberg"—it was Prince Christian of Augustenburg he meant.