Chapter 4
“My dear,” I said. “I am so very sorry.”
She raised her head. “You don’t have to be sorry,” she replied. “It was one of those things that seem to happen in a war. It’s a long time ago, now—nearly six years. And Captain Sugamo was hung—not for that, but for what he did upon the railway. It’s all over and done with now, and nearly forgotten.”
* * * * *
There was, of course, no women’s camp in Kuantan, and Captain Sugamo was not the man to be bothered with a lot of women and children. The execution took place at midday at a tree that stood beside the recreation ground overlooking the tennis courts: as soon as the maimed, bleeding body hanging by its hands had ceased to twitch Captain Sugamo stood them in parade before him.
“You very bad people,” he said. “No place here for you.
