I expect the food, for all the commandant's talk, was nothing to boast of.

In one room people were writing letters.

It was a big place with only a tiny stove to warm it, and the windows were shut so that the atmosphere was a cold frowst.

In another room a fellow was lecturing on something to a dozen hearers and drawing figures on a blackboard.

Some were in ordinary khaki, others in any old thing they could pick up, and most wore greatcoats.