"Are you all set, lads?" The men stood in their ranks, still wearing the travel-worn khaki-stained linen, still holding their Enfield rifles, faces drawn, nutmeg-brown, some shaking with excitement, others striving to appear nonchalant.
"Loosen your bayonets," Jack ordered. "Check you each have sixty rounds, caps and a full water bottle." He watched as they patted and looked through their equipment. "The pandies will fight this time so watch out for each other; don"t go wandering off alone. You"ll get lost, and the pandies will gut you like a fish." The men nodded; by now they were all veterans and they knew what war in India was all about. "The Residency is still holding out," Jack told them. "But we don"t know for how much longer. They"re short of ammunition and not sure how long the na
