children , old women , the famed cripples who never appeared in the town below , hunchbacks , and little twisted bodies which had never grown to full size , and big hulking men as well , bearded and swart , and boys my age or older - all of them shuffling about or lying about , but dazed , and crazy , and looking up at us , and blinking and pausing as though our presence should mean something though they could not make out what .