Out of three hundred and fifty white soldiers in the column he had lost one hundred and nineteen. Every gun served by natives was captured by the enemy. Worst of all, the moral effect of such a defeat outweighed a dozen victories. It not only brought about the instant beginnings of the siege, but its proportions were grossly exaggerated in the public eye. For the first time in many a year the white soldiers had fled before a strictly Indian force. They were outnumbered, which was nothing new in the history of the country, but it must be confessed they were out-generaled, too. Lawrence, never a believer in Gubbins's forward policy, showed unwonted hesitancy even during the march to Chinhut: he halted, advanced and counter-marched the troops in a way that was foreign to a man of his decisive character. Where he was unaccountably timid the enemy were unusually bold, and the outcome was disaster. Yet in this moment of bitterest adversity he displayed that sympathy for the sufferings of others that won him the esteem of all who came in contact with him. By some extraordinary blunder of the commissariat the 32d had set forth that morning without breaking their fast. Now, after a weary march and a protracted fight in the burning sun, some of the men deliberately lay down to die. "We can go no farther," they said. "We may as well meet death here as a few yards away. And, when the sepoys overtake us, we shall at least have breath enough left to die fighting." Lawrence, when finally he turned his horse's head toward Lucknow, came upon such a group. He shook his feet free of the stirrups. "Now, my lads," he said quietly, "you have no cause to despair. Catch hold of the leathers, two of you, and the horse will help you along. Mr. Malcolm, you can assist in the same way. Another mile will bring us to the city." One of the men, finding it in his heart to pity his haggard-faced general, thought to console him by saying: "We'll try, if it's on'y to please you, your honor, but it's all up with us, I'm afraid. If the end doesn't come to-day it will surely be with us to-morrow." "Why do you think that?" asked Lawrence. "We must hold the Residency until the last man falls. What else can we do?" "I know that, your honor, but we haven't got the ghost of a chance. They're a hundred to one, and as well armed as we are. It 'ud be a different thing if help could come, but it can't. If what people are saying is true, sir, the nearest red-coats are at Allahabad, an' p'raps they're hard pressed, too." "That is not the way to look at a difficulty. In war it is the unexpected that happens. Keep your spirits up and you may live to tell your grandchildren how you fought the rebels at Lucknow. I want you and every man in the ranks to know that my motto is 'No Surrender.' You have heard what happened at Cawnpore. Here, in Lucknow, despite to-day's disaster, we shall fight to a finish."