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248 even than the relief of destitution. The lieutenant was disgusted, but without their consent he was helpless.

Within a short time, however, they turned round completely and ordered him to transport the perishable food. The reason lay in necessity. The supplies began to get so rotten as to be uneatable. The committee’s “conscientiousness” might be regarded as liable to shade over into “negligence.” Suddenly they were in a furore, begging him to take the other things away as quickly as possible, as well as the rice and flour. That meant, of course, to take more than the licensed load, but once a thing began to touch their position, all regulations were brushed aside.

For a second time the honest lieutenant was disgusted, but had to submit. Even then, in spite of the labours of himself and his men, the refugees who received the half-rotten or completely rotten supplies, far from being pleased, were resentful, critical and angry. That was only natural, since the food was more likely to poison them than to nourish the starving refugees.

Once, while out walking, he sat down on a bench and some ex-service men came up and sat down beside him. It was just after seven in the evening and they started talking about all sorts of things, as they cooled themselves. The chief topic was the Koreans. Each one was going one better with rumours about Korean atrocities.

The Koreans had poisoned some well; they had thrown bombs into some building where refugees