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

THE CHOLERA OF 1867. 419
make a dash at the soldiers.
" You wish it ? well then,"
" "
shouted the officer ;
and turning back he shouted : Ready
!
The squad raised and aimed their muskets, and the crowd,
uttering a cry of fright, disappeared in an instant by the side
the first.
streets. The other ten soldiers joined
" " Here, firmness and courage are needed ! exclaimed Can-j
"
giano ; the dead must be buried immediately half of ; you
go into the country and bring back, by force, as
many men as
you can. You others come with me." Half of the squad
started on a quick step out of the town. The others began to
run here and there, to enter the houses, and hunt all around for
picks, shovels, carts, boards, and benches on which to carry the
dead out of the place. In a few moments they found every
thing they needed, and part of them began to gather the bodies ;
when they reached the neighboring cemetery they dug the
graves as hastily as possible ;
others went to work to clear the
streets of the worst obstructions and disgusting filth.
Meanwhile Cangiano, followed by a
soldier, went in search
of a house adapted for the use of a hospital, stopping all the
people whom he met on the
way, advising, exhorting, and beseeching
them to do as he wished ;
and in passing he hurried
the soldiers, gave orders
and suggestions, and comforted them
with kind words. He found a house, had it cleared, had beds
from the deserted houses carried
there, went himself with four
soldiers to knock at the doors of all the other dwellings, and
asked to be allowed to carry away the sick, whom he would
nurse and take care of, saying that their families should be assisted.
They replied in the negative ;
he offered them money,
begged, threatened ;
all was in vain. Then the soldiers entered
the houses by force two of them seized the
;
invalid, and