Nightrunners of Bengal (2012)
“All Mondays were bad, and this one was going to be very bad after Julio’s funeral yesterday. He saluted, took his place, and glanced round. Lieutenant Colonel Caversham at the head; then—clockwise from him—Major Anderson, the second-in-command; three captains—old Sculley, Geoffrey Hatton-Dunn the adjutant, and himself; two lieutenants—Atkinson, and Sanders the quartermaster; three ensigns—Torrance, Simpkin, and Neville. King, the sergeant-major, and Toombs, the quartermaster-sergeant, completed... the circle. Surgeon Hackett was on leave and not due back till the end of July.
That added up to ten infantry officers present, where there should have been twenty-six. While the others chatted, waiting for Caversham to put his notes in order, Rodney quickly ran through the regiment’s roll as it lay open in his mind’s eye. The 13th was grossly understaffed in British Officers; the majority of those on the roll had been assigned by Leadenhall Street to duty elsewhere, and had not been replaced in the regiment.MoreLess
That added up to ten infantry officers present, where there should have been twenty-six. While the others chatted, waiting for Caversham to put his notes in order, Rodney quickly ran through the regiment’s roll as it lay open in his mind’s eye. The 13th was grossly understaffed in British Officers; the majority of those on the roll had been assigned by Leadenhall Street to duty elsewhere, and had not been replaced in the regiment.MoreLess
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