flict having begun again, the Italians
were overpowered by the overwhelming numbers of the Austrians, in spite
of a valorous resistance, and on the morning of the 27th they sadly
retreated towards the Mincio.

The captain, although wounded, made the march on foot with his soldiers,
weary and silent, and, arrived at the close of the day at Goito, on the
Mincio, he immediately sought out his lieutenant, who had been picked up
with his arm shattered, by our ambulance corps, and who must have
arrived before him. He was directed to a church, where the field
hospital had been installed in haste. Thither he betook himself. The
church was full of wounded men, ranged in two lines of beds, and on
mattresses spread on the floor; two doctors and numerous assistants were
going and coming, busily occupied; and suppressed cries and groans were
audible.

No sooner had the captain entered than he halted and cast a glance
around, in search of his officer.

At that moment he heard himself called in a weak voice,--"Signor
Captain!" He turned round. It was his drummer-boy. He was lying on a cot
bed, covered to the breast with a coarse window curtain, in red and
white squares, with his arms on the outside, pale and thin, but with
eyes which still sparkled like black gems.

"Are you here?" asked the captain, amazed, but still sharply. "Bravo!
You did your duty."

"I did all that I could," replied the drummer-boy.

"Were you wounded?" said the captain, seeking with his eyes for his
officer in the neighboring beds.

"What could one expect?" said the lad, who gained courage by speaking,
expressing the lofty satisfaction of having been wounded for the first
time, without which he would not have dared to open his mouth in the
presence of this captain; "I had a fine run, all bent over, but suddenly
they caught sight of me. I should have arrived twenty minutes earlier if
they had not hit me. Luckily, I soon came across a captain of the staff,
to whom I gave the note. But it was hard work to get down after that
caress! I was dying of thirst. I was afraid that I should not get there
at all. I wept with rage at the thought that at every moment of delay
another man was setting out yonder for the other world. But enough! I
did what I could. I am content. But, with your permission, captain, you
should look to yourself: you are losing blood."

Several drops of blood had in fact trickled down on the captain's
fingers from his imperfectly bandaged