Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

They're the words of Englishman, H. G. Wells, published in 1901 in The First Men in the Moon. This sentence completely blew my mind, it seems completely alien to me.

Here's the context:

The Grand Lunar was so incredulous that he interrupted the translation of what I had said in order to have my verification of my account. They particularly doubted my description of the men cheering and rejoicing as they went into (? battle).

"'But surely they do not like it!' translated Phi-oo.

"I assured them men of my race considered battle the most glorious experience of life, at which the whole assembly was stricken with amazement.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_First_Men_in_the_Moon_(1901)/Chapter_25