After a night broken only by a minor scare at the outposts, Wolseley pushed on before dawn the following morning.
“Column of fours,” Jack ordered. “Number Two Company, take the lead. Number Five Company, take the rear.” He watched his men shuffle into formation. Not yet awake, they needed Deblin to roar them into order with words of gentle encouragement.
“Come on, you human errors! You idle bastards! Don’t play the giddy goat with me! Move these legs, Wright! Do you think you’re on a Cook’s tour?”
The Malverns stumbled in the shifting sand, with the Martini Henrys a dead weight and the soft darkness pressing down on them.
“Here we go again,” Bullard hitched up his buff ammunition pouch and arranged his mess tin more comfortably between his shoulders.
“I swear, I’ll do for that RSM bas
