Kurtz drew his foot languidly through the ash that blanketed the ground. Absent-mindedly he toyed with an old finger bone that lay in the dust with the worn toe of his boot. The scene before him was a familiar one - men, women, others - sat huddled together in small groups or alone, cloaks wrapped tight against the keening wind as the brackish waters of the river rolled sluggishly by. Yesterday they had marched and fought and waited and they would do it all again today.
