on their way homeward, flemming and the baron passed through a narrow lane, in which was a well-known studenten-kneipe. at the door stood a young man, whom the baron at once recognised as his friend von kleist. he was a student; and universally acknowledged, among his young acquaintance, as a "devilish handsome fellow"; notwithstanding a tremendous scar on his cheek, and a cream-colored mustache, as soft as the silk of indian corn. in short he was a renowner, and a duellist.
"what are you doing here, von kleist?"
"ah, my dear baron! is it you? come in; come in. you shall see some sport. a fox-commerce is on foot, and a regular beer-scandal."
"shall we go in, flemming?"
"certainly. i should like to see how these things are managed in heidelberg. you are a baron, and i am a stranger. it is of no consequence what you and i do, as the king's fool angeli said to the poet bautru, urging him to put on his hat at the royal dinner-table."
william lilly, the astrologer, says, in his autobiography, that, when he was committed to the guard-room in white hall, he thought himself in hell; for "some were sleeping, others swearing, others smoking tobacco; and in the chimney of the room there were two bushels of broken tobacco-pipes, and almost half a load of ashes." what he would have thought if he had peeped into this heidelberg studenten-kneipe, i know not. he certainly would not have thought himself in heaven; unless it were a scandinavian heaven. the windows were open; and yet so dense was the atmosphere with the smoke of tobacco, and the fumes of beer, that the tallow candles burnt but dimly. a crowd of students were sitting at three long tables, in the large hall; a medley of fellows, known at german universities under the cant names of old-ones, mossy-heads, princes of twilight, and pomatum-stallions. they were smoking, drinking, singing, screaming, and discussing the great laws of the broad-stone and the gutter. they had a great deal to say, likewise, about besens, and zobels, and poussades; and, if they had been charged for the noise they made, as travellers used to be, in the old dutch taverns, they would have had a longer bill to pay for that, than for their beer.
in a large arm-chair, upon the middle table, sat one of those distinguished individuals, known among german students as a senior, or leader of a landsmannschaft. he was booted and spurred, and wore a very small crimson cap, and a very tight blue jacket, and very long hair, and a very dirty shirt. he was president of the night; and, as flemming entered the hall with the baron and his friend, striking upon the table with a mighty broadsword, he cried in a loud voice;
"silentium!"
at the same moment a door at the end of the hall was thrown open, and a procession of newcomers, or nasty-foxes, as they are called in the college dialect, entered two by two, looking wild, and green, and foolish. as they came forward, they were obliged to pass under a pair of naked swords, held cross-wise by two old-ones, who, with pieces of burnt cork, made an enormous pair of mustaches, on the smooth, rosy cheeks of each, as he passed beneath this arch of triumph. while the procession was entering the hall, the president lifted up his voice again, and began to sing the well-known fox-song, in the chorus of which all present joined lustily.
what comes there from the hill?
what comes there from the hill?
what comes there from the leathery hill?
ha! ha!
leathery hill!
what comes there from the hill?
it is a postilion!
it is a postilion!
it is a leathery postilion!
ha! ha!
postilion!
it is a postilion!
what brings the postilion?
what brings the postilion?
what brings the leathery postilion?
ha! ha!
postilion!
what brings the postilion?
he bringeth us a fox!
he bringeth us a fox!
he bringeth us a leathery fox!
ha! ha!
leathery fox!
he bringeth us a fox!
your servant, masters mine!
your servant, masters mine!
your servant, much-honored masters mine!
ha! ha!
much-honored masters mine!
your servant, masters mine!
how does the herr papa?
how does the herr papa?
how does the leathery herr papa?
ha! ha!
herr papa!
how does the herr papa?
he reads in cicero!
he reads in cicero!
he reads in leathery cicero!
ha! ha!
cicero!
he reads in cicero!
how does the frau mama?
how does the frau mama?
how does the leathery frau mama?
ha! ha!
frau mama!
how does the frau mama?
she makes the papa tea!
she makes the papa tea!
she makes the papa leathery tea!
ha! ha!
leathery tea!
she makes the papa tea!
how does the mamsell sœur?
how does the mamsell sœur?
how does the leathery mamsell sœur?
ha! ha!
mamsell sœur!
how does the mamsell sœur?
she knits the papa stockings!
she knits the papa stockings!
she knits the papa leathery stockings!
ha! ha!
leathery stockings!
she knits the papa stockings!
how does the herr rector?
how does the herr rector?
how does the leathery herr rector?
ha! ha!
herr rector!
how does the herr rector?
he calls the scholar, boy!
he calls the scholar, boy!
he calls the scholar, leathery boy!
ha! ha!
leathery boy!
he calls the scholar, boy!
and smokes the fox tobacco?
and smokes the fox tobacco?
and smokes the leathery fox tobacco?
ha! ha!
fox tobacco!
and smokes the fox tobacco?
a little, masters mine!
a little, masters mine!
a little, much-honored masters mine!
ha! ha!
much-honored masters mine!
a little, masters mine!
then let him fill a pipe!
then let him fill a pipe!
then let him fill a leathery pipe!
ha! ha!
leathery pipe!
then let him fill a pipe!
o lord! it makes me sick!
o lord! it makes him sick!
o lord! it makes me leathery sick!
ha! ha!
leathery sick!
o lord! it makes me sick!
then let him throw it off!
then let him throw it off!
then let him throw it leathery off!
ha! ha!
leathery off!
then let him throw it off!
now i again am well!
now he again is well!
now i again am leathery well!
ha! ha!
leathery well!
now i again am well!
so grows the fox a bursch!
so grows the fox a bursch!
so grows the leathery fox a bursch!
ha! ha!
fox a bursch!
so grows the fox a bursch!
at length the song was finished. meanwhile large tufts and strips of paper had been twisted into the hair of the branders, as those are called who have been already one semestre at the university, and then at a given signal were set on fire, and the branders rode round the table on sticks, amid roars of laughter. when this ceremony was completed, the president rose from his chair, and in a solemn voice pronounced a long discourse, in which old college jokes were mingled with much parental advice to young men on entering life, and the whole was profusely garnished with select passages from the old testament. then they all seated themselves at the table and the heavy beer-drinking set in, as among the gods and heroes of the old northern mythology.
"brander! brander!" screamed a youth, whose face was hot and flushed with supper and with beer; "brander, i say? thou art a doctor! no,--a pope;--thou art a pope, by--"
these words were addressed to a pale, quiet-looking person, who sat opposite, and was busy in making a wretched, shaved poodle sit on his hind legs in a chair, by his master's side, and hold a short clay pipe in his mouth,--a performance to which the poodle seemed no wise inclined.
"thou art challenged!" replied the pale student, turning from his dog, who dropped the pipe from his mouth and leaped under the table.
seconds were chosen on the spot; and the arms ordered; namely, six mighty goblets, or bassgläser, filled to the brim with foaming beer. three were placed before each duellist.
"take your weapons!" cried one of the seconds, and each of the combatants seized a goblet in his hand.
"strike!"
and the glasses rang, with a salutation like the crossing of swords.
"set to!"
each set the goblet to his lips.
"out!"
and each poured the contents down his throat, as if he were pouring them through a tunnel into a beer-barrel. the other two glasses followed in quick succession, hardly a long breath drawn between. the pale student was victorious. he was first to drain the third goblet. he held it for a moment inverted, to let the last drops fall out, and then placing it quietly on the table, looked his antagonist in the face, and said;
"hit!"
then, with the greatest coolness, he looked under the table and whistled for his dog. his antagonist stopped midway in his third glass. every vein in his forehead seemed bursting; his eyes were wild and bloodshot, his hand gradually loosened its hold upon the table, and he sank and rolled together like a sheet of lead. he was drunk.
at this moment a majestic figure came stalking down the table, ghost-like, through the dim, smoky atmosphere. his coat was off, his neck bare, his hair wild, his eyes wide open, and looking right before him, as if he saw some beckoning hand in the air, that others could not see. his left hand was upon his hip, and in his right he held a drawn sword extended, and pointing downward. regardless of every one, erect, and with a martial stride he marched directly along the centre of the table, crushing glasses and overthrowing bottles at everystep. the students shrunk back at his approach; till at length one more drunk, or more courageous, than the rest, dashed a glass full of beer into his face. a general tumult ensued, and the student with the sword leaped to the floor. it was von kleist. he was renowning it. in the midst of the uproar could be distinguished the offensive words;
"arrogant! absurd! impertinent! dummer junge!"
von kleist went home that night with no less than six duels on his hands. he fought them all out in as many days; and came off with only a gash through his upper lip and another through his right eyelid from a dexterous suabian schlaeger.