“Is your sight good, you monkey?”
“Mine?” replied the boy. “I can spy a young sparrow a mile away.”
“Are you good for a climb to the top of this tree?”
“To the top of this tree? I? I’ll be up there in half a minute.”
“And will you be able to tell me what you see up there—if there are Austrian soldiers in that direction, clouds of dust, gleaming guns, horses?”
“Certainly I shall.”
“What do you demand for this service?”
“What do I demand?” said the lad, smiling. “Nothing. A fine thing, indeed! And then—if it were for the Germans, I wouldn’t do it on any terms; but for our men! I am a Lombard!”
“Wait a moment, until I take off my shoes.”