Pagina 509 de 3800

Two soldiers held him while two others were flourishing their

switches and striking him regularly on his bare back. The man

shrieked unnaturally. A stout major was pacing up and down the

line, and regardless of the screams kept repeating:

"It's a shame for a soldier to steal; a soldier must be honest,

honorable, and brave, but if he robs his fellows there is no

honor in him, he's a scoundrel. Go on! Go on!"

So the swishing sound of the strokes, and the desperate but

unnatural screams, continued.

"Go on, go on!" said the major.

A young officer with a bewildered and pained expression on his

face stepped away from the man and looked round inquiringly at

the adjutant as he rode by.