Soldiers were acting as task-masters, and they
whipped the men who did not pull with sufficient strength. Now and then
a man would try to escape by running, but such deserters were
invariably brought down by a bullet in the back. More than once one of
the men would fall as they waded along, and be swept off by the
current. None of them seemed to know how to swim, but no one paid any
attention to their fate. Parties were sent out to bring in other
natives to take the place of those who gave out. One of the men thus
brought in was paralyzed on one side and carried a crutch. The soldiers
made sport of him, snatched the crutch from him, and made him pull as
best he could with the rest. Sam, Cleary, and an Anglian officer who
had served through the whole war took a long walk together back from
the river during the halt at noon. They entered a deserted house, with
gables and a tiled roof, which by chance had not been burned. The house
had been looted, and such of its contents as were too large to carry
away were lying broken to bits about the floor. A nasty smell came from
an inner room, and they looked in and saw the whole family--father,
mother, and three daughters--lying dead in a row on the floor. A
bloody knife was in the hand of the man.
"They probably committed suicide when they saw the soldiers coming,"
said the Anglian, whose name was Major Brown.
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