The man[oe]uvres began, and continued their course, one day very much like another, only the scene changing. The brigade would assemble in the early morning. Cavalry scouts told off for the purpose, had generally gone on in advance and sent back their reports. These hussars or Uhlans were marvellously clever fellows, who never failed to find out the enemy. Then the advance-guard was set in motion, and after a certain time the main body followed. The batteries were usually ordered to the front during the march. If they reached the scene of action unnoticed by the enemy and wanted to open fire upon him unawares, the men had to crawl almost on all-fours in line; then there was a mad gallop forwards over hedges and ditches when they found themselves within range of the hostile fire; and when the gunners were almost jolted out of their seats the men of the infantry would burst into loud peals of laughter as they lay sideways on the ground. It was all very well for them to laugh then; but when the man[oe]uvres were over, and they were on the march back to their quarters, they cast envious glances at the artillerymen as they took their seats and were driven home on their hard-seated chariots.
In the skirmishes, too, during the man[oe]uvres, it was the artillery who got the best of it. The infantry had to be always on the march, then firing off their blank cartridges either stooping or lying down, and at last making a bayonet charge on the disorganised foe. The batteries, on the other hand, generally remained in the same position, and only now and then fired a shot, reserving their ammunition for doings on a larger scale during the last few days of the man[oe]uvres. In this way they had a splendid view of the fighting, and could quietly look on as the dark lines of rifles approached nearer and nearer; or when an officer commanding a squadron of cavalry, thirsting for fame, made an impossible, but very daring attack.
On off-days Vogt lent a sturdy helping hand in gathering in the harvest. It delighted him to be able, as of old, to reach up and put the sheaves on the top of the well-loaded waggons, and to find that he could still wield a scythe with the same vigorous strokes, mowing the scanty second crop of grass on the mountain meadows just as close to the ground as ever. While Klitzing lay down after his exertions and rested his weary limbs, Vogt would spend hours over such field-work; and the fatigue after this heaven-blest labour was far more grateful to him than the idle, lazy time a soldier often enjoys directly the arduous period of his early training is over. In the evenings after bugle-call, out he would go again to mow a strip of grass before dusk; and when returning, scythe on shoulder to the court-yard of his quarters, he would sometimes quite forget that he still wore the uniform of a soldier.