Fergus had at once left his fellow prisoners and joined two or three others with whom he had been previously acquainted, one being a captain of the 3rd Royal Dragoons.
"You are with Stauffen and Ritzer, are you not, major ?" the latter said.

"I have a brother in the same regiment, and so know them.

How do you get on with them ?" "At present they are rather stiff and distant, and insist upon treating me as the senior officer; which is absurd when we are prisoners, and they are both some fifteen years older than I am.

I detest that sort of thing.

Of course in a great garrison town like Berlin or Dresden the strict rules of discipline must be observed.
I think they are carried altogether too far, but as it is the custom of the service there is nothing to be said about it; but here, as we are all fellows in misfortune, it seems to me simply ridiculous." "It becomes a second nature after a time," the officer said.