Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/68

 beating down on his blonde head, which seemed like gold. The officer could hardly see him, so small did he seem.

“Look straight ahead and far away!” shouted the officer.

The lad, in order to see better, removed his right hand from the tree, and shaded his eyes with it.

“What do you see?” asked the officer.

The boy bent his head towards him, and, making a speaking-trumpet of his hand, replied, “Two men on horseback, on the white road.”

“At what distance from here?”

“Half a mile.”

“Are they moving?”

“They are standing still.”

“What else do you see?” asked the officer, after a momentary silence. “Look to the right.”

The boy looked to the right. Then he said: “Near the cemetery, among the trees, there is something glittering. It seems to be bayonets.”

“Do you see men?”

“No. They must be hidden in the grain.”

At that moment the sharp whiz of a bullet passed high up in the air, and died away in the distance, behind the house.

“Come down, my lad!” shouted the officer. “They have seen you. I don't want anything more. Come down!”

“I'm not afraid,” replied the boy.

“Come down!” repeated the officer. “What else do you see to the left?”

“To the left?”