290 BERDYCZEWSKI
Now I am already an old soldier; I have hardly an- other year and a half to serve about sixteen months. I only hope I shall not be ill. It seems I got a bit of a chill at the manoeuvres, I cough every morning, and sometimes I suffer with my feet. I shiver a little at night till I get warm, and then I am very hot, and I feel very comfortable lying abed. But I shall probably soon be all right again.
They say, one may take a rest in the hospital, but I haven't been there yet, and don't want to go at all, especially now I am feeling better. The soldiers are sorry for me, and sometimes they do my work, but not just for love. I get three pounds of bread a day, and don't eat more than one pound. The rest I give to my comrade Ossadtchok. He eats it all, and his own as well, and then he could do with some more. In return for this he often cleans my rifle, and sometimes does other work for me, when he sees I have no strength left.
I am also teaching him and a few other soldiers to read and write, and they are very pleased.
My corporal also comes to me to be taught, but he never gives me a word of thanks.
The superior of the platoon, when he isn't drunk, and is in good humor, says "you" to me instead of "thou," and sometimes invites me to share his bed I can breathe easier there, because there is more air, and I don't cough so much, either.
Only it sometimes happens that he comes back from town tipsy, and makes a great to-do : How do I, a com- mon soldier, come to be sitting on his bed ?
