began to show the rest of them that they didn't know anything about the
handling of cannon.

Well, soon after that, down comes this stripling to us as
general-in-chief of the Army of Italy--an army that hadn't any
ammunition, or bread, or shoes, or coats; a wretched army--naked as a
worm. "Now, boys!" he said, "here we are, all together. I want you to
get it fixed in your heads that in fifteen days more you 're going to be
conquerors. You're going to have new clothes, good leggings, the best of
shoes, and a warm overcoat for every man; but in order to get these
things you'll have to march to Milan, where they are." So we marched. We
were only thirty thousand bare-footed tramps, and we were going against
eighty thousand crack German soldiers--fine, well equipped men; but
Napoleon, who was only Bonaparte then, breathed a spirit of--I don't
know what--into us, and on we marched, night and day. We hit the enemy
at Montenotte, thrashed 'em at Rivoli, Lodi, Arcola, and Millesimo, and
stuck to 'em wherever they went. A soldier soon gets to like being a
conqueror; and Napoleon wheeled around those German generals, and pelted
away at 'em, until they didn't know where to hide long enough to get a
little rest. With fifteen hundred Frenchmen, whom he made to appear a
great host (that's a way he had), he'd sometimes surround ten thousand
men and gather 'em all in at a single scoop. Then we'd take their
cannon, their money, their ammunition, and everything they had that was
worth carrying away. As for the others, we chucked 'em into the water,
walloped 'em on the mountains, snapped 'em up in the air, devoured 'em
on the ground, and beat 'em everywhere. So at last our troops were in
fine feather--especially as Napoleon, who had a clever wit, made friends
with the inhabitants of the country by telling them that we had come to
set them free; and then, of course, they gave us quarters and took the
best of care of us. And it was not only the men: the women took care of