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

THAT DAY. 193
"At that point a high, vibratory
voice resounded in our
midst :
*
It is
your turn now. To your place ! '
"It was the voice of our major.
"Try letting drop a flaming piece of paper over one of those
lar^e, thick ant hills, which at a few steps' distance seem quite
immovable, and look like ugly black spots, which you cannot
make out at first. The little troop, quite frightened, turns
dizzily in every direction, and rushes toward the subterranean
passage. Try the first ! The others press forward, dash over
one another ; that passage is closed ? quick, another ; this,
too ? on to a third ; this, too ? back then to the first. When the
greater number have dashed into the hole, many unfortunate
ones are wandering around in a desperate manner, quite blindly,
more dead than alive, until they, too, find a place of safety,
although a trifle late, and, perhaps, at the cost of some burns.
"When the first terror is passed, the same thing occurs
among the soldiers at the sound of that voice.
" In a twinkling all were up and in arms ;
the ranks were
quickly formed ;
there was a great ferment, a whispering, a pushing
and squeezing, and then all became quiet. Some ran here
and there in search of their places ;
he who found it
pushed
into it he who did not, made one for himself with his elbows :
;
the battalion was in order.
" It was a beautiful spectacle
! That multitude a short time
before scattered and stretched out with loosened clothes and
belts, their arms on the ground, up in an instant in line, motionless
and silent, prepared for death. It is sufficient to look
them in the eye, to understand that they are men who will
see the enemy's backs, or cover the ground with their bodies.
The flag
is motionless ;
the arm which holds it does not