"
"Then go, go quickly. I will have some one relieve you of your watch the
rest of the night. See that everything is done. Venice wakes from her
nightmare, and the faithful messenger that brought the joyful tidings must
not be neglected!"
Andrea saluted and started away, but had gone only a few steps when the
officer recalled him:
"Hold--you say there was a stain of blood! The Red Cross surgeon is not too
great a personage to save the bird. If you will take him to the hospital, I
myself will telephone the story!"
With a look of gratitude in his dark eyes, and a "Grazie, signore," Andrea
was off as quickly as he had come, and fifteen minutes later was in the Red
Cross rooms holding out the suffering Chico to the great surgeon, who, in
less time than it takes to say it, had located the trouble, extracted the
tiny bit of lead that had come so perilously near piercing the brave heart,
bound up the wound, and handed the quivering bird back to his master:
"There, I have done my best. A short time and he will be all right,
although his left wing will be crippled and his flights from now on can
only be short." As he spoke, he laid his hand on Andrea's shoulder: "My
boy, there is no greater hero in the wards of this hospital than this
faithful homing pigeon!"
Tears blurred Andrea's sight as he hugged Chico close and with reiterated
expressions of gratitude made his way down the hospital steps. The heart
within his soldier's coat was pulsating with joy at the spontaneous words
of praise and the assurance that Chico would not die.
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