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

?2 MILITARY LIFE.
found him, we heard a blast of the trumpet and the regiment
stopped. While the ranks broke up
and the soldiers threw
themselves down, I, dragging behind me the little fugitive, entered
a field on the right of the road, and the others followed
me. About ten paces from the ditch we stopped ;
a soldier with
a lantern came up ;
we gathered around the boy, and throwing
the light on to his face, bent down to look at him. He was
beautiful, but pale and exhausted, and had in his eyes two
beautiful, great dark eyes a very strange expression
of sadness
for a child of his age, as he could not be more than
twelve. His old, worn, and ill-fitting garments were a strong
contrast to his delicate and gentle appearance. He wore an
old straw hat to which a great portion of the brim was lacking,
a blue handkerchief around his neck, a fustian jacket large
enough for a man, a pair of trousers that only
reached his
ankles, and two old shoes laced with twine. But he was neat
and not ragged he had his handkerchief knotted with a certain
;
grace ;
his hair arranged ; and face, hands, and shirt quite clean.
He looked first in the face of one and the other with widestretched,
motionless eyes.
" But don't you know that you are alone ? " I asked.
He looked at me fixedly without replying.
" All the other boys have gone back," said one of my friends,
" and why did n't "
you go back with them ?
Then another " : What do you wish to do here with us ?
Where do you wish to "
go ?
He looked first at one and then at the other, with his eyes
always wide-stretched then ; dropped them and was silent.
' ;
Speak up, now ; say something," said one of us, shaking
"
him lightly by the shoulder ; have you lost your tongue "
?