"We"re pulling back." The words ran around Havelock"s column. "We"re pulling back to Mangalwar."
Sick at heart, Jack heard the inevitable comments.
"What? We"ve got them licked! Why are we retreating?"
"Retreating from the dirty pandies? Bugger that! There"s nothing between Lucknow and us but a r****e of scared blacks."
"Charlotte"s up there! We can"t leave her!"
"Right lads." Jack stepped in front of the indignant 113th, knowing every man in every other regiment in the column shared their emotions. "We"ve only got eight hundred and fifty fighting men left now, what with battle casualties and disease. There are about ten thousand pandies ahead of us, so the general has ordered a temporary withdrawal and there is no more to be said."
"Sir… How about the women? What about my wife?" Ril
