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

THE CHOLERA OF 1867. 393
silent, and watchful, watching every night by the light of a lantern,
while seated on a chair in one corner of the room. If
any one could have been present when the invalid, coming to
himself and looking around, and not recognizing him, asked :
"Who are you ?" and then, hearing the name, asked : "Who
sent "
you To ? which the good soldier "
replied : I came
because I wanted to do so." "And why?" It cannot
be expressed in words what the soldier's eyes replied, and what
passed in his heart as he pressed the thin hand that was put
out in search of his. At other times, instead, the soldier
returned to the barracks after a few days, and as soon as he
entered went and seated himself on his bed and began poking
the ramrod of his musket into the barrel, this being an occupation
in which a man is obliged to keep his head down and can
thus hide his eyes.
The officers visited assiduously the sick in the hospitals, and
generally went in numbers to visit all, so that no one would
have a chance of growing sad or dispirited in seeing his comrades
and not himself comforted.
absolute necessity for the poor
Those visits had become an
sick men. At the usual hour
they heard the clanking of the swords on the stairs, the sound
of the voices, glanced at the door in expectation, and when
they appeared and scattered through the wards of the hospital,
every face became quieter, and even in the motionless eyes of
those most dangerously ill,
there lay a slight ray of hope and
comfort. Poor young fellows ! There were days when the
sound of the swords was heard an hour later than usual, and
during that time they were all ears and eyes waiting for the
slightest noise or movement. They fancied they heard those
steps and voices at e^ery moment, and they went on imagining