... No! they were not fore-paws,
but two five-fingered hands, and round the neck a charred rope was
knotted. It was a man who had been hung, and whom they had cut down
in order to eat him.
The General was not squeamish by nature, and had in his life passed
through many experiences, but this went beyond all bounds. He was at
first angry, and wished to interrupt the cannibals' meal, but when
he saw the little children sitting on their mothers' knees with
tufts of grass in their mouths, he was seized with compassion. The
cannibals themselves looked like corpses or madmen, and the eyes and
expectations of all were fastened on the oven. At the same time they
sang "Lord, have mercy," and prayed for pardon for the grievous sin
which they were obliged to commit. "What does it really matter to
me?" said the General to himself; "I only wish I had not seen it."
He returned to his men, and they marched on.
The wood became thinner, and they came to an open place where was
something resembling a heap of stones, out of which there arose a
single pillar. In the half-twilight which reigned they could not see
distinctly, but on the pillar something seemed to be moving. The
"something" resembled a man, but had only one arm.
"It is not a man, for he would have two arms," said one of the
soldiers.
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