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

THE SON OF THE REGIMENT. 99
wet tents and cleaning their clothes and arms. All the others
were under the tents ;
arrived
at every moment fresh bands of soldiers
and wandered uncertainly around the camp
in search
of their company and as the ;
majority had lost their knapsacks,
sticks, and tent, they stood there near the tents of the companies,
their hands folded, mortified and annoyed, looking
around with the air of lost travellers. No sound of a drum,
trumpet, or voice, was heard, nor any noise ; in shutting your
eyes you would have fancied the whole army was sleeping.
"Having reached the camp of my regiment, I went into my
tent and threw myself down (without saying one word), beside
my comrades, who had been there for more than an hour.
We
did not salute each other, nor speak, nor even look one
another in the face ;
we were as mute and motionless as people
who have lost their memory.
"
Suddenly, we heard a sharp cry a few steps from the tent ;
another cry farther away ;
a third nearer still ; ten, one hundred,
a thousand voices broke out in concert on all sides of the
camp, and we could hear the noise of hurrying steps. What
could it be ? We dashed out of the tent. Oh, what a magnificent
spectacle
!
The whole regiment was running rapidly toward
the road leading to Goito, and not only ours, but those
on th*e right and left of us, and the others farthest away, precipitated
themselves toward the road as if for the assault of
an entrenchment. I looked in the soldiers' faces ; they were
changed, trembling, radiant, and they were all uttering loud
cries of joy, and prolonged noisy bursts of applause broke out
on all sides of the camp. We flew toward th road ;
two
carabineers on horseback with bare swords passed ;
a carriage
appeared ; ever/ head was bared, all arms raised, one