JК
Sharpes Havoc :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 51 из 242He tripped on a metal picketing pin and, as he stumbled forward, a carbine bullet fluttered past him, the sound suggesting it was almost spent, but even a spent bullet in the wrong place could kill a man. His riflemen were shooting from the field’s far side, the smoke of their Baker rifles thickening along the wall. Sharpe dropped beside Hagman. „What’s happening, Dan?”
„Dragoons are back, sir,” Hagman said laconically, „and there’s some infantry there too.”
„You sure?”
„Shot one blue bastard,” Hagman said, „and two greens so far.”
Sharpe wiped sweat from his face, then crawled a few paces along the wall to a place where the powder smoke was not so thick. The dragoons had dismounted and were shooting from the edge of a wood some hundred paces away. Too long a range for their carbines, Sharpe thought, but then he saw some blue uniforms where the road ran through the trees and he reckoned the infantry was forming for an attack. There was an odd clicking noise coming from somewhere nearby and he could not place it, but it seemed to offer no threat so he ignored it. „Pendleton!”
„Sir?”
„Find Lieutenant Vicente. He’s in the village. Tell him to get his men out on the northern path now.” Sharpe pointed to the track through the vineyards, the same track by which they had entered Barca d’Avintas and where the dead dragoons of the first fight still lay. „And, Pendleton, tell him to hurry. But be polite, though.”
Pendleton, a pickpocket and purse snatcher from Bristol, was the youngest of Sharpe’s men and now looked puzzled. „Polite, sir?”
„Call him sir, damn you, and salute him, but hurry!”
Goddamn it, Sharpe thought, but there would be no escape across the Douro today, no slow shuttling back and forth with the small boat, and no marching back to Captain Hogan and the army. Instead they would have to get the hell out northwards and get out fast. „Sergeant!” He looked left and right for Patrick Harper through the misty patches of rifle smoke along the wall. „Harper!”
„I’m with you, sir.” Harper came running from behind. „I was dealing with those two Frogs in the church.”
„The moment the Portuguese are into the vineyard we get out of here. Are any of our men left in the village?”
„Harris is there, sir, and Pendleton, of course.”
„Send someone to make sure the two of them get out.” Sharpe leveled his rifle across the wall and sent a bullet spinning toward the infantry who were forming up on the road among the trees. „And, Pat, what did you do with those two Frogs?”
„They’d robbed the poor box,” Harper said, „so I sent them to hell.
„Dragoons are back, sir,” Hagman said laconically, „and there’s some infantry there too.”
„You sure?”
„Shot one blue bastard,” Hagman said, „and two greens so far.”
Sharpe wiped sweat from his face, then crawled a few paces along the wall to a place where the powder smoke was not so thick. The dragoons had dismounted and were shooting from the edge of a wood some hundred paces away. Too long a range for their carbines, Sharpe thought, but then he saw some blue uniforms where the road ran through the trees and he reckoned the infantry was forming for an attack. There was an odd clicking noise coming from somewhere nearby and he could not place it, but it seemed to offer no threat so he ignored it. „Pendleton!”
„Sir?”
„Find Lieutenant Vicente. He’s in the village. Tell him to get his men out on the northern path now.” Sharpe pointed to the track through the vineyards, the same track by which they had entered Barca d’Avintas and where the dead dragoons of the first fight still lay. „And, Pendleton, tell him to hurry. But be polite, though.”
Pendleton, a pickpocket and purse snatcher from Bristol, was the youngest of Sharpe’s men and now looked puzzled. „Polite, sir?”
„Call him sir, damn you, and salute him, but hurry!”
Goddamn it, Sharpe thought, but there would be no escape across the Douro today, no slow shuttling back and forth with the small boat, and no marching back to Captain Hogan and the army. Instead they would have to get the hell out northwards and get out fast. „Sergeant!” He looked left and right for Patrick Harper through the misty patches of rifle smoke along the wall. „Harper!”
„I’m with you, sir.” Harper came running from behind. „I was dealing with those two Frogs in the church.”
„The moment the Portuguese are into the vineyard we get out of here. Are any of our men left in the village?”
„Harris is there, sir, and Pendleton, of course.”
„Send someone to make sure the two of them get out.” Sharpe leveled his rifle across the wall and sent a bullet spinning toward the infantry who were forming up on the road among the trees. „And, Pat, what did you do with those two Frogs?”
„They’d robbed the poor box,” Harper said, „so I sent them to hell.