He was counting them, as a butcher counts his beasts at the entrance to the slaughter-house, and he was surprised at their number; even his pessimism had not foreseen that the number of cowards would have been so great.
Il les comptait, comme les bouchers comptent les betes, a l'entrée de l'abattoir; et il était surpris de leur nombre, il ne prévoyait pas, meme dans son pessimisme, que ce nombre de lâches put etre si grand.