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

220 MILITARY LIFE.
cle, the most courageous in the centre, the laziest at the wings ;
three or four in the middle dispute the best
position with their
elbows ;
one finally conquers, puts his left foot well forward,
bends backward, measures the ground with his eye,
rises on
tip-toe to look into the ditch, thinks, hesitates, turns to his
neighbor and says "You jump : first." An "oh !" of shame rises
on all sides. The neighbor hesitates also ;
two or three excuse
themselves.
" Make way, then, I will jump," says a new-comer,
opening a path by means of pushes and blows. They make
way he comes
;
forward, prepares, sways backward and forward,
glances at the ditch and the ground, and starts. He passes the
intervening space, courage, bravo and he !
is over, resting on his
right foot, with his left one in the air and his arms well ex-
he runs for a drink. The
tended. The lira is his ; away
competition
is lively ;
another man has taken the leap,
and another lira is won. A third starts. Oh, how shortbreathed
he is ! He
reaches the bank, takes the leap, and
down he goes flat on to his face, dashing the water over every
one. A prolonged shout breaks from every throat, and ends
by a general laugh and clapping of hands. The poor fellow
has climbed with difficulty on to the bank, all wet and dripping,
his hair clinging and matted in bunches over his ears and face,
his trowsers clinging to his legs, and his arms hanging. But
the officers are moved by pity.
"
A glass of wine for this poor
"
devil ! exclaims one of them. And the face of the poor
devil instantly becomes serene.
Then the circle of singers. One here, one there, around
the tents, under the trees, five, ten, and twenty together.
One warbles a pathetic ballad with the greatest effrontery ;
others, half intoxicated, with glistening eyes and inane faces,