76 WHIP AND SPUR. 



such a bugle, such a soldier, and such a mount 

 combined, comes but once in the lifetime of the 

 luckiest officer. It was only his uncouth tongue 

 that kept him from being pilfered from me by 

 every general who had the power to " detail " 

 him to his own headquarters. 



So universal, by the way, was this petty vice 

 of commanding officers, that one was never safe 

 until he adopted the plan, in selecting a staff 

 officer, of securing his promise to resign from the 

 service, point-blank, if ordered to other duty, and 

 more than one offended general has been made 

 indignant by this policy. With Wettstein, I felt 

 perfectly easy, for the average capacity of briga- 

 dier-generals stopped far short of the analysis of 

 his dual jargon. Several tried him for a day, 

 but they found that his comprehension was no 

 better than his speech, and that his manifest 

 ability was a sealed book to them. He always 

 came home by nightfall with a chuckle, and " Le 

 general versteht mich nicht. Je blase ' marrrsch ' 

 fur < halt.' " 



So it was that, for a couple of years, this 



