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

2Q2
MILITAR Y LIFE.
was not a dinner ; it was a regular raid, the " requisition " of a
squad of cavalry in time of war, a devastation, a sacking. So
much occupied was he in masticating, that he talked little but
;
amused the company away from the table with every sort of
unexpected joke, for which he really had a satanical imagination.
Did I say amuse? Sometimes he drew forth more
curses than there were hairs to his head ;
but we always ended
by laughing. He was quite capable of meditating upon and
preparing one of his tricks for seven days running.
One night,
toward one o'clock, while we were sleeping soundly, we were
wakened suddenly by a sense of bitter cold, all six of us, and
we found ourselves uncovered, with the sheets and counterpanes
at the bottom of the bed. We rearranged our beds, and
then fell asleep again ;
an hour later the same thing happened
again, and it really seemed as if witches were at work, until one
man, having lost his patience, seized a taper, another lighted a
candle, and all " "
sprang up, exclaiming It : 's Mazzoni ! Not
a bit of it. Mazzoni was snoring, and had not even moved.
What is it ? What could it be ?
Finally some one stumbled
over a small cord stretched across the room ;
there was one
discovered in every room, and all six were joined in the rascally
fist of that imposter who was snoring. Then we went for
him. But it was all very fine trying to manage a giant like
him, for he drove us all from the room like wasps with just six
blows from his pillow, and remained master of the situation.
Another time a poor devil who was utterly worn out after a
march was waked at midnight by a beautiful Catherine-wheel of
various colors, that filled his room with a shower of fire ;
or we
all rose from table with our chairs fastened to the floor ;
or at
the moment we drew out our swords on the review, we would