"O"Neill"s back!" Riley was first with the news, and soon the words spread around the company. Jack looked up as Sergeant O"Neill marched in, gaunt-faced but as erect as ever, with his uniform clean and his rifle in his hand.
"Sergeant O"Neill reporting for duty, sir!" O"Neill gave a smart salute.
"Good to have you back, Sergeant," Jack said. "How"s the wound?" O"Neill had been injured during the fighting in the tunnels underneath Lucknow, when Campbell had relieved the siege earlier in the war.
"The medical men saved my arm, thank you."
Jack nodded. "Are you fit for a long march? Don"t say you are, if you"re not."
"I"m fit, sir. I could outmarch any Johnny Raw."
"Aye, you probably could, O"Neill. Sheer b****y determination would see you through." Jack looked around. He had moved his
