The soldiers in their greatcoats were ranged in lines , the sergeants major and company officers were counting the men , poking the last man in each section in the ribs and telling him to hold his hand up . Soldiers scattered over the whole place were dragging logs and brushwood and were building shelters with merry chatter and laughter ; around the fires sat others , dressed and undressed , drying their shirts and leg bands or mending boots or overcoats and crowding round the boilers and porridge cookers . In one company dinner was ready , and the soldiers were gazing eagerly at the steaming boiler , waiting till the sample , which a quartermaster sergeant was carrying in a wooden bowl to an officer who sat on a log before his shelter , had been tasted .
Солдаты в шинелях выстроились в шеренги, фельдфебели и офицеры роты считали людей, тыкая последнего человека в каждом отделении в ребра и приказывая ему поднять руку. Солдаты, разбросанные по всей площади, таскали бревна и хворост и строили убежища с веселой болтовней и смехом; у костров сидели другие, одетые и раздетые, сушившие рубахи и портянки, чинившие сапоги и пальто и толпящиеся около котлов и кашеварок. В одной роте был готов обед, и солдаты жадно смотрели на дымящийся котел, ожидая, пока попробуют образец, который интендант-сержант нес в деревянной миске офицеру, сидевшему на бревне перед своим укрытием.