Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter III. The Pony.
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"More lashes!" cried Ivar, and a shudder passed through his
form, as though he saw a viper, of whose approach he was afraid.
"I certainly do not long for more lashes. Why do you ask me?"
"Because when I was young like you, I had the same folly in
my brain, and thought that the plough was far more difficult to
handle than the musket. But I paid dearly for my foolishness.
I left the farm, which I had inherited from my father, to my
brother-in-law, and entered the service. In the beginning, every
thing went right. New brooms sweep clean, as the old adage
says. It is so with everything. In the commencement all was
joy and mirth. But patience; as soon as one becomes warm in
his fine clothing he will soon have other thoughts. For a trivial
offence, I drew the ill-will of an officer upon me, and he well
remembered it. I at one time committed an unimportant
mistake during drill, and the Satan, who was the commandant of a
company, ordered that I should receive fifty lashes in presence
of the entire company. I was proud also, you may believe, and
for that reason felt the bodily pain much less than the shame I
was forced to undergo. But that was not enough – I received,
into the bargain, a disgraceful discharge, and when I returned
home, and found the girl whom I long had loved, she turned her
face from me, and said that she would never marry such a wicked
wretch as I."
Here Christopher stopped. It could be perceived by his
words that the remembrance of those times still affected him
violently, and some time elapsed before he was enabled to
continue, in a firmer tone, "I did not wish to communicate these
facts to you at an earlier hour, but it would be a sin to be silent
longer, for it appears that it is your desire to bear a musket, and
wear a uniform. But you shall hear further, as my sad
experience had not ended. No, at my return, I found my farm
entirely ruined by my brother-in-law’s mismanagement, and not
a sheaf in the barn. I was forced to throw myself into debt to
be enabled to cultivate it again, and as the Lord punished me
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