Supping With Panthers by Tom Holland

cracking pace and Eliot, I noticed, was soon lagging behind. ‘What’s the matter, old chap?’ I asked him.
    ‘Oh, nothing,’ he said, ‘it’s just this damn leg of mine.’ I glanced down at it. The spear seemed to have gone pretty deep, and I guessed the wound was giving Eliot quite a bit of pain. But he assured me he was fine and so we carried on, Eliot slowing his pace down more and more. At length he collapsed and, looking at his wound again, I realised it was grimmer by far than he had ever let on. It was clear he wouldn’t be walking much further for a while.
    We had a brief council of war over this. Eliot told us to press on, like the gallant chap he was, but we were none of us having that. We knew that Pumper couldn’t be far off now; if we could only hold out, then all might still be well. Our major problem, of course, was our total lack of firepower; but it was at this point that the Professor came up trumps again. He told us that he had stumbled across a great supply of explosives and arms, brought up by the Russians and no doubt intended for use against the Raj but now abandoned. It was agreed at once that we should attempt to recover them. Only one slight drawback, however, attended this plan. The arms cache was back by the ruined city wall.
    Back therefore we had to turn – and an agonising trip it was, to be sure. We went as carefully as ever, but this time we caught glimpses – as we had not done previously – of pale-faced creatures gathered in the shadows. We would keep out of their way and trust that they had not caught a return glimpse of us, but I didn’t like it and nor, I could tell, did Professor Jyoti. He kept glancing up at the sun, which was high in the sky now. ‘It is past noon,’ he muttered to me at one stage. ‘The sun is starting to decline.’
    ‘It has a way to go yet,’ I replied.
    ‘Yes,’ said the Professor, staring round, ‘and so do Colonel Paxton and his regiment.’
    At length we reached the stretch of wall where the arms had been abandoned. Thank the Lord, they were still there. We began to gather them together, and as we did so Eliot, who had been posted as look-out, gave us a cry. ‘We’ve got company,’ he shouted. ‘Over there.’
    I looked up. Amongst the shattered stones of the city behind us, about thirty figures had gathered and were watching as we dug. I looked to my right, and then to my left; more of the blighters, watching us again. It was clear what their plan was – they were cutting us off from our routes of retreat, so that we would have nothing behind us but the mighty abyss. I looked at the bridge and saw, to my astonishment, that it was unguarded; I studied the tower beyond it, and again saw no trace of anyone. ‘The tower,’ I asked Professor Jyoti, indicating it, ‘ever observed anyone moving up there?’
    The Professor frowned. ‘No,’ he said slowly, ‘but that doesn’t mean it’s empty.’
    True enough, I thought – but that would be a risk we would have to take. We had no other choice.
    I shared out what we needed from the cache of arms: weapons, explosives, ammunition. The rest I ordered to be dragged to the abyss; there was no fire rising from its depths now, but it seemed quite deep enough to serve our needs – and so it proved, for once the weapons had gone over the side we neither saw nor heard them land. We retreated to the bridge; as I have said it was a beautifully carved thing, but I knew it would have to go, for by now a crowd was forming all along the base of the wall and I was afraid they might rush us at any time. Fortunately, the engineering experience I had picked up in the Punjab stood me in good stead; pretty soon I had the bridge loaded with explosives, and we all dropped back a bit, where the cover was better, and waited for the action to get under way. Nothing happened, however. The afternoon sun continued to decline, and the crowds watching us remained by their wall. With each hour that passed, however,