“Well, well, Fritz shall do as he pleases,” said one of the boys; “but enough with our chatting, let us seek the wood for our fire.”
“Wood, wood, let us seek wood,” cried all, gayly, and the happy troop separated on all sides. Only Charles Henry remained to prepare the fire. With busy haste he took the kettle, which the soldiers had dragged near, ran to the neighboring market and bought a groschen worth of lard to make the noodles savory, then hastened back to cut the bacon and mix it with the noodles. Some of the soldiers returned empty-handed—no wood was to be found; the soldiers, who had searched before them, had taken it all.
“It would be horrible not to have noodles this evening,” said Fritz Kober, furiously. “Who knows but they may be the last we shall eat in this world? The balls may take our heads off to-morrow, and we never could eat Charles Henry’s noodles again.”
“What you can do to-day never put off until to-morrow,” cried one of the soldiers. “We must eat noodles to-day, and we must have wood, even if we have to steal it from the devil’s kitchen.” And, as he turned around, his eye fell upon a little hut which stood on the other side of the camp. “Boys.” he cried, gleefully, “do you see that hut?”
“Certainly; that hut is the king’s quarters.”
“I am willing the king should occupy the hut; but it is covered with wood, and he does not need that. Come, boys, we will have wood to cook our noodles.”
With a hurrah they started forward to the old forsaken shepherd’s hut in which the king had taken refuge. They climbed the rook as nimbly as cats, and now the old boards cracked and groaned and flew in every direction, and were received with shouts of joy by the surrounding soldiers. Suddenly a guard officer stepped from the hut, and saw with horror its destruction; he ordered the soldiers to lay the boards as they had found them, and to go off at once. The soldiers mocked at him, and continued at their work quietly.
“We are going to eat noodles,” they said, “common noodles, of meal and lard, that we may have the courage to swallow iron noodles to-morrow. To cook noodles, we need wood. We find it here, and we shall take it.”
“What!” cried the officer, “I forbid it, and you refuse to obey?—Sentinels, forward!”
The four guards, who, until now, had walked quietly to and fro before the hut, placed themselves at the door and shouldered arms.