"It seems to me that I counted before the enemy," replied the boy.
"Be still, child!" cried Polidoro. "The drummer's duty is to follow the company."
"That is true," said an old grognard. "Come, Zanetto, stick your hand into the bag, but don't draw my name."
But it was the old man's name that he drew.
"The grenadier Sampierri!"
"I never had any luck," growled Sampierri, stamping angrily upon the ground.
He took up his musket.
"The grenadiers Nicolo, Mordini, Ruspone!" continued Brocard.
Matteo, while this was going on, had returned from the village, and was silently digging a trench to our left, about two hundred paces from the mountain, where the earth was soft and offered but little resistance.
"Ha! Matteo! there are ninety of us," cried Corporal Campana; "nine men to mount guard underground today. Make it wide enough, my old friend."