The whole body of pupils was divided into three, afterwards into four
sections, each of which had its own citadel. After two had declared war
against two others, the battle raged until one party captured the
strongholds of the other. This was done as soon as a combatant had set
foot on the hearth of a hostile fortress.

The battle itself was fought with stakes blunted at the tops. Every one
touched by the weapon of an enemy must declare himself a prisoner. To
admit this, whenever it happened, was a point of honour.

In order to keep all the combatants in action, a fourth division was
added soon after our arrival, and of course it was necessary to build a
strong hold like the others. This consisted of a hut with a stone roof,
in which fifteen or twenty boys could easily find room and rest, a strong
wall which protected us up to our foreheads, and surrounded the front of
the citadel in a semicircle, as well as a large altar-like hearth which
rose in the midst of the semicircular space surrounded by the wall.

We built this fortress ourselves, except that our teacher of handicrafts,
the sapper Sabum, sometimes gave us a hint. The first thing was to mark
out the plan, then with the aid of levers pry the rocks out of the
fields, and by means of a two-wheeled cart convey them to the site
chosen, fit them neatly together, stuff the interstices with moss, and
finally put on a roof made of pine logs which we felled ourselves, earth,
moss, and branches.

How quickly we learned to use the plummet, take levels, hew the stone,
wield the axes! And what a delight it was when the work was finished and
we saw our own building! Perhaps we might not have accomplished it
without the sapper, but every boy believed that if he were cast, like