And that reminds me of another Kipling/Bellamy song, "Cholera Camp".
Here's the first verse:

We've got the cholerer in camp—it's worse than forty fights;
We're dyin' in the wilderness the same as Isrulites;
It's before us, an' be'ind us, an' we cannot get away,
An' the doctor's just reported we've ten more to-day!

https://mainlynorfolk.info/peter.bellamy/songs/choleracamp.html