CHAPTER XXIII.
The next morning, as Zaklika was drinking warmed beer in the common room, there entered, with a great noise, three soldiers from the guard of the castle.
Zaklika immediately recognized them as soldiers whom he had seen in Dresden, and one of them began to look at him attentively.
"Well," said the soldier, leaning on the table, "I seem to know you."
"To be sure," answered Zaklika, "for I was a long time in service at the Court, till I took to business."
"Ah! you are the man who breaks horse-shoes!" exclaimed the soldier.
"Yes, I could even stop an ox by taking it by the horns; but now I don't know whether I could do the same even with a sheep."
The soldier saluted him smiling. Zaklika called for beer for him, and they became friends.
"We are now doing penance," said the soldier. "We are in Nossen watching a petticoat! It is frightfully dull there."
"They might at least have given a few pretty girls to the Countess," said another soldier.