I began to recognize the increasing foulness of air, and to distinguish words of conversation from the groups about me.

There was but little profanity but some rough horse-play, and a marked effort to pretend indifference.

I could make out gray-beards and mere boys mingling together, and occasionally a man in some semblance of uniform.

A few bore wounds, and the clothes of several were in rags; all alike exhibited marks of suffering and hardship.

The butcher from Harwich, and the white-faced lad who had marched beside me down the wharf, were not to be seen from where I sat, although beyond doubt they were somewhere in the crowd.