Here and there a group of people were squatting on the ground, talking noisily.

Here and there a beggar stretched out a maimed limb and sought for alms.

Then close to the gate he saw that for which he searched: a man sitting apart with a blanket over his head.

No one spoke to the man, and for his part he never moved.

He sat erect with his legs crossed in front of him and his hands resting idly on his knees, a strange and rather grim figure; so motionless, so utterly lifeless he seemed.