Sergeant Harrow's Last Charge

aka the standing order, hold until relieved

The last written order Sergeant Coll Harrow gave his own company, scratched on a slate he still carries — hold the pit until relieved — beside the muster roll he keeps because no one ever let him set it down.

A slate, carried on the sergeant, the chalk gone but the scoring still legible where a hard hand pressed it in. "STANDING ORDER OF THE LOWER PIT. Roll to be called at each turn of the glass. Every name answered. Line to be held at the muster stone. No man to quit the pit until relief is sounded and the company dismissed by name. I have no order to dismiss you. Until one comes, we hold. Answer the roll. Hold the line. That is the whole of it, and it is enough to be going on with. — C. Harrow, serjeant." Below, later, the scoring shallower, as if the hand were tired or the arm no longer quite a hand: "Relief is late. Answer the roll." And below that, once: "Answer the roll." And below that only the marks where a roll was called, and called, and called.

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