Look at
these bodies now."
Corpses were now coming down the river one after another. Each had its
attendant swarm of flies, and vultures soared in flocks in the air. The
river was yellow with mud, and the air oppressively hot and heavy. Now
and then a whiff of putrid air was blown across the deck. The three men
watched the bodies drifting past, brainless skulls, eyeless sockets,
floating along many of them as if they were swimming on their backs.
"It is really a fine example of the power of civilization," said the
stranger. "I don't approve of everything that has been done, by any
means. Some of the armies have treated women rather badly, but no
English-speaking soldiers have done that. In fact, your army has hardly
been up to the average in effectiveness. You and the Japs have been
culpably lenient, if you will permit me to say so."
"We are only just starting out on our career as a military nation,"
said Sam. "You must not expect too much of us at first. We'll soon get
our hand in. As for the Japs, why they're heathen. They can hardly be
expected to behave like Christians. But we were afraid that the war was
over and that we should find nothing to do."
"The war over! What an absurdity! I have lived in Porsslania for over
thirty years and I ought to know something about it by now. There's an
army of at least forty thousand Fencers over there to the northwest
and another twenty-five thousand in the northeast.
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