I walked for two miles through what had been suburban streets. All the houses were empty and several had been damaged or destroyed. I saw no civilians.
On several occasions I met small groups of Afrim soldiers, but I was not accosted.
At midday I entered an empty house to eat the beef sandwiches and salad which Mrs. Jeffery had given me. I drank the flask of tea, and washed it out afterwards, realizing that it might be useful in the future.
I went down to the beach and walked along it until I came to the place where I had found the bungalow with the makings for petrol-bombs. Out of curiosity I entered the bungalow and looked for the bombs, but they had been taken.
I moved on down to the beach. I sat on the pebbles.
Half an hour later, a youth walked along the shore and approached me. We engaged in conversation. He told me of a large group of refugees about eight miles to the east who had commandeered a ship and who were planning to sail to France. He invited me to join him. I asked him if the group were armed, and he told me they were.
We spoke for a while of the Afrims, and the youth told me that this had once been a garrison town but that their organization was not good. Though there were still many hundreds of black troops here, they were ill-controlled and undisciplined. I asked him if he knew anything of the reputed Afrim brothel, and he confirmed its existence. He said there was a large turnover of women, and that the Afrims had no compunction about murdering those who would not co-operate.
He told me that the brothel was less than half a mile from where we were, and that he would take me to it if I wished.
I thanked him, but turned down his offer. In a while he left me, giving me detailed instructions on how to find the group who had the vessel. I told him that if I was going to join them I would be there by the next evening.
I waited until he had disappeared from my sight before I moved off in the same direction.
I walked slowly towards where the youth had said the brothel was situated. This necessitated leaving the shore and walking up into the streets of the town. There were many more Africans in this neighbourhood and I discovered that I was not going to be able to get near the building. I tried approaching it from several directions, but each time I was stopped and told to move away.
Tiredness was growing in me, and I returned to the shore. I sat down on the pebbles and looked at the sea.
There was much crude oil on the water, and in many places the beach was covered in thick black sludge.
The silence appalled me. There were no sea-birds, and the oily waves that broke on the shore were sluggish and without foam. The tide was receding. Far out to sea there was a large warship, but I was unable to determine what type or nationality it was.
My attention was first drawn to the bodies by the presence of a squad of Afrim soldiers, who moved down to the beach about a quarter of a mile from me, then returned to the town. I stood up.
As I walked, my feet were continually sucked by the thick layer of oil on the pebbles. The bodies were not easy to see, and had I not known they were there, from a distance I would have mistaken them for large pieces of congealed oil. They were all black and there were seventeen of them. They were naked, and all but one of them were female. The blackness of the skin was not that of natural pigmentation or of oil, but of paint or pitch. I moved amongst them, soon finding Isobel and Sally.
I noticed no reaction in me. Later, I felt a sadness, and later than that a disturbing combination of terror and hatred.
I slept that night on the beach. In the morning I murdered a young African and stole his rifle, and by the afternoon I was again in the countryside.