Sharpes Havoc   ::   Корнуэлл Бернард

„You’re a veritable walking encyclopaedist, Lieutenant,” Vuillard said, „so tell me what damage your shells did today?”

„Very little, sir, I’m afraid.” Pelletieu, almost overwhelmed by Annette’s perfume, looked as though he was about to faint. „That summit is prodigiously protected by boulders, sir. If they kept their heads down, sir, then they should have survived mostly intact, though I’m sure we killed one or two.”

„Only one or two?”

Pelletieu looked abashed. „We needed a mortar, sir.”

Vuillard smiled. „When a man lacks instruments, Lieutenant, he uses what he has to hand. Isn’t that right, Annette?” He smiled, then took a fat watch from his waistcoat pocket and snapped open the lid. „How many rounds of shell do you have left?”

„Thirty-eight, sir.”

„Don’t use them all at once,” Vuillard said, then raised an eyebrow in mock surprise. „Don’t you have work to do, Lieutenant?” he asked. The work was to fire the howitzer through the night so that the ragged forces on the hilltop would get no sleep, then an hour before first light the gunfire would stop and Vuillard reckoned the enemy would all be asleep when his infantry attacked.

Pelletieu scraped his chair back. „Of course, sir, and thank you, sir.”

„Thank you?”

„For the supper, sir.”

Vuillard made a gracious gesture of acceptance. „I’m just sorry, Lieutenant, that you can’t stay for the entertainment. I’m sure Mademoiselle Annette would have liked to hear about your charges, your rammer and your sponge.”

„She would, sir?” Pelletieu asked, surprised.

„Go, Lieutenant,” Vuillard said, „just go.” The Lieutenant fled, pursued by the sound of laughter, and the Brigadier shook his head. „God knows where we find them,” he said. „We must pluck them from their cradles, wipe the mother’s milk from their lips and send them to war. Still, young Pelletieu knows his business.” He dangled the watch on its chain for a second, then thrust it into a pocket. „First light at ten minutes to four, Major,” he spoke to Dulong.

„We’ll be ready,” Dulong said. He looked sour, the failure of the previous night’s attack still galling him. The bruise on his face was dark.

„Ready and rested, I hope?” Vuillard said.

„We’ll be ready,” Dulong said again.

Vuillard nodded, but kept his watchful eyes on the infantry Major. „Amarante is taken,” he said, „which means some of Loison’s men can return to Oporto.