Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

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94 MILITARY LIFE.
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rushed at the wells with tremendous avidity and a cry of savage
joy that was absolutely startling. Ten, twenty, thirty, the
first on their faces, the others with their chests on the backs of
the first, hung over the mouth of a well, their feet in the air, at
the risk of falling headlong into the water, and disputed with
trembling hands the rope, the bucket, the pole, pushing each
other back with their elbows and by shoves and kicks, threatening
to use their bayonets, and shrieking oaths and imprecations
into each other's ears ;
until the bucket, drawn up by ten vigorous
arms, came in sight. Then the cries ;
blows were redoubled,
all the arms were bent downward to seize it first ;
when it
appeared, twenty arms caught hold of it, ten burning
mouths were nailed to its edges, drawn here and there, the
water spilled over their faces, clothes, and the ground.
. . .
Who has drunk ? No one ;
and so it was everywhere. The
majority of the soldiers had scattered over the country ;
some
battalions, but half comprehending the orders received, had
not even entered Villefranche, and had taken the road in the
direction of Goito by paths through the fields ;
so that only
the nucleus of the different corps remained, one may say the
colonel, flag-bearer, the majority of the officers, and a few soldiers
;
not one of the band. The crowd which filled the street
uttered deafening shouts ;
there was a calling in a loud voice,
a breaking through the crowd by means of pushes, a running
hither and thither of officers to seize soldiers by the arm and try
and collect them around the flag, a coming and going of aidesde-camp
and couriers on horseback ;
in the middle of the
square a hurried grouping of colonels and staff-officers, an
anxious questioning, a giving and revoking of orders ;
all panting,
and their faces flaming, wearied, contorted, and full of