1. The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. 2. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of the rumors.
3. A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of the hostile campfires set in the low brows of the distant hills.
4. Once a certain tall soldier developed virtues and went resolutely to wash a shirt.
5. To his attentive audience he drew a loud and elaborate plan of a very brilliant campaign.
6. When he had finished, the blue-clothed men scattered into small arguing groups between the rows of squat brown huts.
7. His smooth face was flushed, and his hands were thrust sulkily into his trousers' pockets.
8. Meanwhile, the soldier who had fetched the rumor bustled about with more importance.