Compared to being unwelcome in the Roman Fourth Republic, Garibaldi was respected in the Austrian recruit camp, where more officers appreciated him.
The food was far better too than what he'd had in Rome and the Riograndense Republic. At least, he finally got to eat a dish from home: macaroni in fish soup.
It was a little strange made with carp, but he still couldn't help shedding tears. Garibaldi hadn't eaten this dish in over a decade. Afraid of getting his family into trouble, he hadn't even dared contact them.
His family all thought he was dead. Garibaldi thought of his mother's stooped figure, worn down from raising him and his younger siblings.
Garibaldi's father had been a brave sailor, and a drunkard. He'd spent nearly all the money he earned in taverns.
Garibaldi had been forced to become an apprentice sailor aboard the Constanza when he was ten. He'd hardly earned any pay, but at least they fed him.
That had been enough for Garibaldi back then. The first turning point in his life came when he was thirteen, and a band of pirates attacked the merchant ship he was aboard.
The sailors fought back with all their might, but they were still hopelessly outnumbered. Yet legends were born from extraordinary experiences and courage beyond the ordinary.
Just thirteen years old, Garibaldi killed the pirates' arrogant leader in the struggle with a dagger, then used the gun in the pirate chief's hand to shoot the ship's traitorous first mate.
Seeing that things had turned against them, the remaining pirates fled. Grateful for Garibaldi's bravery, the ship's owner gave him the entire bounty on the pirate chief.
From then on, the Garibaldi family's life improved, and Garibaldi finally had the chance to go to school.
He read voraciously, and what