JК
Sharpes Devil :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 205 из 209"I thought when Cochrane wanted to meet me that he would talk terms of surrender! I thought I had won. I thought they would offer me the southern half of Chile and plead to keep the north. I was not going to accept, but I wanted to hear their terms. Instead they asked me to surrender Valdivia. For Bonaparte!"
On the eve of their departure Cochrane entertained Sharpe and Harper in the captured Fort Niebla where he laughingly recounted how the government in Santiago was begging him to send Valdivia's captured treasury north, but Cochrane was pleading time to count the coins before he released them. The truth was that he was holding the treasury against the arrival of his new master. "Bonaparte knows you can't fight wars without cash."
"How long before he gets here?" Sharpe asked.
"A month? No more than six weeks. Then, my dear Sharpe, we shall set this world ablaze!"
Cochrane had already returned Louisa's money to Vivar, and now he insisted on Sharpe and Harper taking a share of the plunder. He filled two sea chests with coins that he ordered carried down to the wharf. It was cold. Snow flurries whirled over the blazing torches that lit the quay and a strip of black water. Cochrane, caped in a naval cloak, shivered. "Why don't you stay here, Sharpe? March north with me! We'll become rich!"
"I'm a farmer, not a soldier."
"At least you're not a lawyer." Cochrane gave Sharpe a bear hug of farewell. "No hard feelings?"
"You're a devil, my Lord."
Cochrane laughed at the compliment. "Give General Vivar my apologies. I suppose he'll never forgive me?"
"I fear not, my Lord."
"So be it." Cochrane hugged Harper. "Go safe home. Fair winds to you both."
They sailed in the dawn, beating south against a cold sea and a freezing wind. They were traveling in a brig that was carrying hides to London. She made heavy weather of Cape Horn, but at last began to beat her way north.
Vivar brooded. He was a wise man, yet his understanding could not encompass a man who would break his word. "Is the world changing so much?" he asked Sharpe.
"Yes," Sharpe said bleakly. "The war changed it."
"So that results justify methods?"
"Yes."
Vivar, cloaked and scarved against the bitter sea wind, paced the brig's small poop. "Then it's not a world I want a part of."
Sharpe feared his friend was contemplating suicide. "You have a wife and children!"
Vivar smiled and shook his head. "Not that, Sharpe. I mean that I shall retire from service. I shall go to Orense and look after my estates. I, at least, shall be honorable.
On the eve of their departure Cochrane entertained Sharpe and Harper in the captured Fort Niebla where he laughingly recounted how the government in Santiago was begging him to send Valdivia's captured treasury north, but Cochrane was pleading time to count the coins before he released them. The truth was that he was holding the treasury against the arrival of his new master. "Bonaparte knows you can't fight wars without cash."
"How long before he gets here?" Sharpe asked.
"A month? No more than six weeks. Then, my dear Sharpe, we shall set this world ablaze!"
Cochrane had already returned Louisa's money to Vivar, and now he insisted on Sharpe and Harper taking a share of the plunder. He filled two sea chests with coins that he ordered carried down to the wharf. It was cold. Snow flurries whirled over the blazing torches that lit the quay and a strip of black water. Cochrane, caped in a naval cloak, shivered. "Why don't you stay here, Sharpe? March north with me! We'll become rich!"
"I'm a farmer, not a soldier."
"At least you're not a lawyer." Cochrane gave Sharpe a bear hug of farewell. "No hard feelings?"
"You're a devil, my Lord."
Cochrane laughed at the compliment. "Give General Vivar my apologies. I suppose he'll never forgive me?"
"I fear not, my Lord."
"So be it." Cochrane hugged Harper. "Go safe home. Fair winds to you both."
They sailed in the dawn, beating south against a cold sea and a freezing wind. They were traveling in a brig that was carrying hides to London. She made heavy weather of Cape Horn, but at last began to beat her way north.
Vivar brooded. He was a wise man, yet his understanding could not encompass a man who would break his word. "Is the world changing so much?" he asked Sharpe.
"Yes," Sharpe said bleakly. "The war changed it."
"So that results justify methods?"
"Yes."
Vivar, cloaked and scarved against the bitter sea wind, paced the brig's small poop. "Then it's not a world I want a part of."
Sharpe feared his friend was contemplating suicide. "You have a wife and children!"
Vivar smiled and shook his head. "Not that, Sharpe. I mean that I shall retire from service. I shall go to Orense and look after my estates. I, at least, shall be honorable.