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

THE CHOLERA OF 1867. 407
houses outside the city ;
one of them stopped to look at a child
who was digging a ditch with its hands ;
he said : "What a
"
stooped and gave
it a caress. A woman near
beautiful child !
by saw the action, dashed to the door of one of the houses,
"
and shouted .in the loudest possible voice : Quick
!
quick !
the soldiers are killing the child." A sharp cry was heard
from within at the same moment, and a woman appeared
at the door, saw the
soldiers, rushed forward, and caught- the
child, with a fearful shriek, in her arms, returned like a flash to
the house, closed the door, dashed to the window breathless,
trembling, her eyes starting out of their sockets, and her face
pale and distorted ;
she stared at the soldiers, and then, accompanying
her words with a vigorous gesture, as if she were
throwing a " "
stone, shouted in a stifled voice : Curse you !
and withdrew. The soldiers stood still, open-mouthed with
astonishment. But the woman who had given the first cry
had run to call some other people, so that the three poor fellows
soon had to think of saving themselves, as there was no
time to be lost.
They had not gone fifty paces when the armed
forerunners of the mob appeared in front of the mother's
house.
One evening, at some distance
from any habitation, a band
of peasants who were on the look-out for poisoners, came
across a soldier. Hardly had they seen him, when they ran
toward him. The soldier, stupidly, turned to flee. He
was caught up with, seized by ten hands, dragged behind
a lonely house, placed with his back against the wall, and
threatened with death. "Where do you keep the poison?"
ten voices asked in one breath.
" I have no poison," stammered
the soldier, white as a ghost.
" Where do you keep the poi-