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"I'd like to put you on a two days' march with a knapsack! Your

fine cords would soon get a bit rubbed," said an infantryman,

wiping the mud off his face with his sleeve. "Perched up there,

you're more like a bird than a man."

"There now, Zikin, they ought to put you on a horse. You'd look

fine," said a corporal, chaffing a thin little soldier who bent

under the weight of his knapsack.

"Take a stick between your legs, that'll suit you for a horse!"

the hussar shouted back.

CHAPTER VIII