Junot saluted and strode through the tent flaps. Napoleon shifted uneasily on his chair.The next interview was going to be a difficult affair but there was no putting the matter off. As soon as the heavy guns had exhausted their ammunition they were to be spiked before the rearguard pulled back, following the rest of the army. Once the French army began to retreat the enemy would close up on them and harass the column all the way back to the fortified depot at Katia.The army would have to march as fast as it could, and that meant some sacrifices would have to be made, Napoleon reflected. He glanced up as a figure entered the tent.

‘You sent for me, sir.’ Dr Desgenettes stood hat in hand before Napoleon’s desk. He looked pale and exhausted and there was several days’ growth of stubble on his face.

‘Yes. Sit down, doctor.’ Napoleon clasped his hands together as he continued. ‘You know that the army is about to break camp?’

Desgenettes nodded. ‘Junot told me about the retreat, yes.’

Napoleon smiled faintly. ‘The correct term is withdrawal, doctor . . .We will be abandoning the heavy guns, and any other burdens that might slow us down, and that’s why I need to speak to you.’

Desgenettes looked confused for a moment before he realised what his commander was implying, and then his expression instantly changed to anger.‘The men in the hospital.You want to leave them behind? Have you any idea what the enemy will do to them, sir?’

‘They could be treated fairly.’

‘After what happened to the prisoners at Jaffa? If we left them to the Turks we’d be committing murder, sir.’

‘Then, if we cannot take them with us, let’s not leave them to the Turks.’

Desgenette’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you suggesting, sir?’

Napoleon paused, frustrated that the man was forcing him to spell it out. ‘I’m suggesting that for those men who are too sick to move, or who would slow us down, an overdose of opium might be the most humane solution.’

‘You would kill our men?’

‘Not me. You. I want this task carried out by someone who knows what to do.’

‘Sir, I am a doctor - a healer, not a killer.’

‘Is it not the case that a doctor’s duty is to alleviate pain and suffering?’

‘Do not dissemble with me, sir.’ Desgenettes shook his head. ‘I refuse to do it.’

‘It is not a request. It is an order. If you disobey me you will be committing mutiny.’

Desgenettes slapped his chest. ‘Then shoot me! I will not kill our countrymen.’ He paused a moment and looked at Napoleon shrewdly.‘But then I’m forgetting.They’re not your countrymen, sir.’