The regiment tramped to the tune of laughter.
The blatant soldier often convulsed whole files by his biting sarcasms aimed at the tall one.
And it was not long before all the men seemed to forget their mission.
Whole brigades grinned in unison, and regiments laughed.
A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse from a dooryard.

He planned to load his knap-sack upon it.

He was escaping with his prize when a young girl rushed from the house and grabbed the animal's mane.
There followed a wrangle.

The young girl, with pink cheeks and shining eyes, stood like a dauntless statue.
The observant regiment, standing at rest in the roadway, whooped at once, and entered whole-souled upon the side of the maiden.

The men became so engrossed in this affair that they entirely ceased to remember their own large war.