"Not so," I replied. "Go find a pickaxe and spade in the village and quickly!"
"You are very hard on me, captain."
"Obey: no more words!"
All this while the sous-lieutenant Brocard, who guessed my purpose, was writing the names of the company upon slips of paper, which he threw into a shako.
"But that is not the way it is done." cried Polidoro, in a bantering tone. "Permit me to instruct you."
"Silence in the ranks!" I cried.
"But we will never get through at this rate, captain."
"I am not responsible to you, sir. It is the order of the colonel. Now, come hither," said I to the drummer, "and draw four names for the firing party."
"Am I not included, captain," returned Zanetto, drawing himself up proudly to his full height.
"Boy, you do not count," said Brocard.