They lifted the Russian from the table, and stretched him on a mattress beside the others; then they laid his neighbor upon the table.
I could not think that such horrors took place in the world; but I was yet to see worse than this.
At five or six beds from mine was an old corporal with his leg bound up. He closed one eye knowingly, and said to his neighbor, whose arm had just been cut off:
"Conscript, look at that heap! I will bet that you cannot recognize your arm."
The other, who had hitherto shown the greatest courage, looked, and fell back senseless.
Then the corporal began laughing, saying:
"He did recognize it. It always produces that effect."
He looked around self-approvingly, but: no one laughed with him.
Every moment the wounded called for water. When one began, all followed, and the old soldier had certainly conceived a liking for me, for each time he passed, he presented the cup.
I did not remain in the shed more than an hour. A dozen ambulances drew up before the door, and the peasants of the country round, in their velvet jackets and large black, slouched hats, their whips on their shoulders, held the horses by the reins. A picket of hussars arrived soon after, and their officer dismounting, entered and said: