eight minutes to three
After being operated on , and having his wounds dressed , the doctor asked him how he felt . `` All right , sir , '' he answered . `` They 've crippled me in arms and legs , and they 've broke my jaw , but , thank God , they have not broke my heart yet ! '' It was eight minutes to three when the Arabs made their first rush , and it was just ten minutes past three when the enemy was finally repelled and the bugle sounded `` Cease firing . '' Yet into these pregnant eighteen minutes all that we have described , and a vast deal more , was crowded . Nearly four hundred of our men were killed and wounded , while the enemy , it is believed , lost over two thousand . It is said by those who were present at the engagement that the officers of the 17th Bengal Infantry were heard to say that if their men had not given way , there would have been no `` disaster '' at all , and General McNeill instead of being accused of permitting himself to be surprised , would have got credit for a heroic defence against overwhelming odds .