"Million Schock Donnerwetter!" said Kutchke. "What will my Captain say? I shall be blamed because he fell ill. And it's not my fault. It's the fault of all the people along the road, who keep giving the soldiers cigars and sausage, and make them useless for hard work."
III.
When Tom went up to his room that night he felt very sore at not being allowed to go and fight with Corporal Kutchke, and he feared lest people might think him a coward. He sat down on the edge of his bed, and began to make plans for running away and joining the army in spite of the professor. Just then he noticed the uniform which Rothmann had left behind when they had so hastily taken him to the hospital. He jumped up, quickly stripped off his coat and trousers, and dressed himself in the uniform of a Prussian foot-soldier. The fit was not perfect, but as he looked at himself in the glass he felt his shoulders straighten up and his chest swell out with pride, and when he had finally put on the knapsack and the cartridge-belt, and the warlike helmet with the brass spike on top, he looked as though he had been made for this particular uniform. He was just about reaching for Rothmann's gun, which had been hung against the wall, when the door was thrown open, and Corporal Kutchke stood facing him, looking as though he had seen a ghost.
"What is it? Who are you? Are you Rothmann?"
Tom burst into a hearty laugh, and the corporal was so delighted at finding that Tom was not the ghost of Rothmann that he too joined.
Suddenly Corporal Kutchke slapped Tom on the back and said: "I have a grand idea. Do you want to be a soldier?"
"Yes, indeed," said Tom.
"Will you march with us to-morrow at daybreak?"
"Certainly," said Tom.
"Then," said Kutchke, "I will take good care of you. It is against the regulations, but in war-time we cannot be so strict. Your name is Rodman, and you must make believe that you are the man Rothmann whom we have left behind. You are both about the same size, and the Captain is not likely to notice anything amiss, for I will drill you so that you will soon be as good as any of the recruits. You are very big for your age, and you will have splendid stories to tell when you come back from the war."