He greeted me with a melancholy smile.

That melancholy smile, however, was not caused by the sad fate of his brave companions, but, as I afterward learned, simply and solely because he himself had not gained his death.

When I saw that there were no wounded, a dark suspicion came over me that the wounded had again been put to death.

I did not care to ask.

The truth was too terrible to hear, and I felt glad that accident had drawn me away.