The triplets promised to remember, and the gentleman bade them good-bye, and hurried down the street.

“Now, where will we go first?” inquired Fritz.

“I think the zoological garden would be the best place,” suggested Paul, but Fritz had set his heart upon seeing soldiers, for in their home neighborhood they saw a soldier only now and then when home upon a furlough; but a regiment, or a company even, they had never seen.  So they walked along the street some distance hoping to see a drill, having read of drills and maneuvers in their story books.

“Look!  There comes an officer,” exclaimed Franz, as a corporal came walking along in a stately, dignified manner, and the delighted boys took off their hats and bowed low to him.

The young man was not at all flattered by this attention, believing that the country boys were making fun of him; but his angry stare was positive proof to the triplets that he was some great man, Fritz deciding that he was a general.

“But if he were a general, he would ride upon a splendid horse.  He would not walk,” remarked Paul.

“But he would walk sometimes,” insisted Fritz, and at that moment they met a drummer, and again the boys doffed their hats and bowed low.

“If I were a soldier, I would be a drummer,” decided Fritz.  “No instrument makes such beautiful music as a drum; and a person must understand music to be a drummer.”

“But a captain is greater than a drummer,” said Paul, “and a general is greater than a captain.”

“Yes, people say so, but if you notice, it is the drummer who leads the way.  All the others have to follow him.  I always think of a verse that tells exactly what I think.  Shall I say it to you?”

“Yes, if it is not too long,” replied both of his companions, and Fritz repeated it.

“My comrades envy me, I know,
  They can deny it not;
For drummer of the regiment
  Has been my happy lot.

“And at a tap, or drum’s loud beat
  The soldiers follow me;
The general, even, has no choice,
  He follows, too, you see.

“But if it had not been my lot
 To be a drummer boy
Then I would be a General;
 But not with half the joy.”

“He was right!” agreed the boys, “and when we are soldiers we will be drummers.”

Chatting amicably, they reached the beautiful flower-bordered walks where they had been the evening before, and sat down under the shade of a great linden to watch the swan swimming about in the lake.  They had scarcely been seated when a soldier passed and again the triplets raised their hats, and some street boys who were playing near raised a shout of derision.

“Look at the country boobies taking off their hats to a common soldier!” they cried, and gathered about the three with mocking laughter and jeers.

“Where did you come from to be so green?” asked one of them.

“There is no need for you to know, therefore no need for us to tell you,” answered Franz.