“But didn’t you fall after the ball had passed through both your lungs?”
“Not at all. I walked five miles to the hospital. On my way, I met the Emperor Napoleon, who got off his horse, and thanked me for the valor I had displayed, and conferred on me the medal of the Legion of Honor. I keep the medal in the same bag with the bullet.”
“Then you have actually shaken hands with the Emperor of France?” cried the amazed lieutenant.
“Yes; and King Victor Emmanuel called to see me in the hospital, where I was confined for five weeks. At Solferino, both their majesties shook hands with me, and thanked me again for my services. Being a modest man, I shouldn’t want to say out loud that I saved the day for the French and Sardinians at Solferino. At any rate, their majesties did the handsome thing by me on that day.”
“I thought you were in the hospital five weeks after Magenta.”
“So I was; and well do I remember the little delicacies sent me by the King of Italy while I lay there on my back. Ah! that Victor Emmanuel is a noble fellow. At Solferino, he——”
“But how could you have been at Solferino, if you were in the hospital five weeks?”
“I did not die of my wounds, it is scarcely necessary for me to remark. I got well.”
“But the battle of Solferino was fought on the 20th of June, and that of Magenta on the 4th of June. There were only twenty days between the battles.”
“You are right, Somers. I have made some mistake in the dates. I never was good at remembering them. When I was in college, the professors used to laugh at me for forgetting the date of the Christian Era. By the way, do you smoke, Somers? Let’s go into the smoking-car, and have a cigar.”