`` That was a terrible thing to do '', I said to Oso.

`` But that was war '', I said.

Still, I was disgusted with myself for agreeing with Montero's methods.

In the brief moment I had to talk to them before I took my post on the ring of defenses, I indicated I was sickened by the methods men employed to live and trade on the river.

Next to him was a young boy I was sure had sat near me at one of the trading sessions.

Now under me I could see him for what he really was, a boy dressed up in streaks of paint.

Such was my state of mind that I did not question the possibility of this ; ;

under the circumstances I was only too willing to confess all.

I was nearly thirty at the time.

It was dark and, I sensed, very large ; ;

Sometimes I was aware of people moving about in the darkness.

This impressed me, until I realized how limited was his sphere of influence.

I felt certain he was really a spineless little man.

Once, pressing him, I learned that his job was only part-time, in the afternoons when nothing went on in the hall.

In the mornings, I was informed, fluorescent tubes, similar to the one above the counter, illuminated the entire hall.

I was shown, instead, a batch of white tickets of the sort handed out, he told me, every morning.

Now, here was something of obvious importance to me, yet when I reached for the tickets he snatched them away from my hand.

It was, I felt, possible that they were men who, having received no tickets for that day, had remained in the hall, to sleep perhaps, in the corners farthest removed from the counter with its overhead light.

I felt certain it was self-appointed.

I decided to see no more of the clerk until the processing of my papers was completed.

I was constantly searching for clues around the neighborhood of the hall.

It was a disturbingly familiar face, too, but I couldn't remember where we had met.

All of this, I know, is recent history familiar to you.

`` I am not familiar with the expression ''.

A verse familiar to all grammarians is the quatrain: `` I saw a man once beat his wife When on a drunken spree.

Another Yank parodied the familiar bedtime prayer: `` now I lay me down to sleep, the gray-backs o'er my body creep ; ;

When I pressed for a purely religious definition, I encountered the familiar blend of liberal piety, interfaith good will, and a small residue of ethnic loyalty.

A famous marble set, probably 2nd century, was brought to St Peter's, Rome by Constantine I, and placed round the saint's shrine, and was thus familiar throughout the Middle Ages, by which time they were thought to have been removed from the Temple of Jerusalem.

When British women participated in World War I, they became familiar with masculine clothing, and were considered patriotic for wearing uniforms and pants.

However, claiming to be a specific historical individual, especially a very familiar one ( e. g. Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Henry Plantagenet, Queen Elizabeth I ), is not permitted.

" Beckett himself was quite open on the issue: " Christianity is a mythology with which I am perfectly familiar so I naturally use it.

During World War I, as a result of improvements by the rival firm Schütte-Lanz Luftschiffbau, the design was changed to the more familiar streamlined shape and empennage of cruciform fins used by almost all airships ever since.

The Greeks and the Arabs were not familiar with cotton until the Wars of Alexander the Great, as his contemporary Megasthenes told Seleucus I Nicator of " there being trees on which wool grows " in " Indica ".

" This view was widely held at the time, as another statement of his, later in the book: " I have yet to meet anyone familiar with the situation who thinks that India will be self-sufficient in food by 1971.

I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi.

" On the other hand, other authors have argued that other terms are more likely to be familiar to readers: for example, Krista Scott-Dixon noted " I prefer the term non-trans to other options such as cissexual / cisgendered ... as I think it both centers trans as the norm, and presently offers more clarity to the average person than the cis prefix.

" Speaking about the best and worst part about playing a Star Trek captain, she said: " The best thing was simply the privilege and the challenge of being able to take a shot at the first female captain, transcending stereotypes that I was very familiar with.

Some of the more familiar local landmarks include Alexandra Palace, Bruce Castle, Jacksons Lane, Highpoint I and II, and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Sister Parish wrote of her design philosophy, " As a child, I discovered the happy feelings that familiar things can bring -- an old apple tree, a favorite garden, the smell of a fresh-clipped hedge, simply knowing that when you round the corner, nothing will be changed, nothing will be gone.

As I dug in behind one of the bales we were using as protection, I grudgingly found myself agreeing with Oso's logic, especially when I imagined what would have happened to Missy if Old Knife's large party of screeching warriors had overrun our company.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Gray Eyes rushing at me with a knife.

I could see their faces glistening with sweat and bear grease, their mouths open, shouting their spine-chilling cries.

I have it with me, right here.

I don't know what makes you think you can get away with this kind of business, and I don't care about that, either.

My future lay solely with the hall, yet what did I know about the hall at this point??

When I went for my interview with the director I saw why.

As he lowered himself on the chair behind his desk I wondered what this dapper, slightly ridiculous man could possibly have to do with the workings of the hall.

What sort of men I would come into contact with, at the hall??

I had always, I said, hankered after working hard with my hands.

Where I go, she goes -- and the kids with us.

I am with you, of course, Tomas ''.

At these words of sympathy and understanding, Harmony said generously, `` I don't mind setting here along with Gran while you go out and join in the games ''.

Besides, 'tain't no more'n right for me to follow with my black oxen, so's I can unhook and pull up fast if either of you get in a pinch ''.

`` Moriarty '', my driver suddenly exclaimed with something so definite, so final in his tone I once more repeated the absurdity, mustering all my latent powers of hypocrisy to sound convinced.

Adios '', I said, exhausting my Spanish vocabulary on my host and exchanging one of a scarcely-tapped store of smiles with my host's daughters.