JК
Sharpes Havoc :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 85 из 242The Slaughterman, perhaps, or the Pig Sticker or the Prince of Death”-he was talking of the partisan leaders who made French life so miserable-”but I am a humble citizen of Portugal so my nickname is the Schoolteacher.”
„The Schoolteacher,” Sharpe repeated.
„Because that is what I was,” Lopes responded energetically. „I owned a school in Braganga where I taught ungrateful little bastards English, Latin, Greek, algebra, rhetoric and horsemanship. I also taught them to love God, honor the King and fart in the face of all Spaniards. Now, instead of wasting my breath on halfwits, I kill Frenchmen.” He offered Sharpe an extravagant bow. „I am famous for it.”
„I’ve not heard of you,” Sharpe said.
Lopes just smiled at the challenge. „The French have heard of me, senhor,” he said, „and I have heard about you. Who is this Englishman who lives safe north of the Douro? Why do the French leave him in peace? Who is the Portuguese officer who lives in his shadow? Why are they here? Why are they making a toy fort on the watchtower hill? Why are they not fighting?”
„Good questions,” Sharpe said dryly, „all of them.”
Lopes looked at the Quinta again. „Everywhere else in Portugal, senhor, where the French have left their dung, they have destroyed places like this. They have stolen the paintings, broken the furniture and drunk the cellars dry. Yet the war does not come to this house?” He turned to stare down the driveway where some twenty or thirty men had appeared. „My pupils,” he explained, „they need rest.”
The „pupils” were his men, a ragged band with which Lopes had been ambushing the French columns that carried ammunition to the gunners who fought against the Portuguese troops still holding the bridge at Amarante. The Schoolteacher had lost a good few men in the fights and admitted that his early successes had made him too confident until, just two days before, French dragoons had caught his men in open ground. „I hate those green bastards,” Lopes growled, „hate them and their big swords.” Nearly half his men had been killed and the rest had been lucky to escape. „So I brought them here,” Lopes said, „to recover, and because the Quinta do Zedes seems like a safe haven.”
Kate bridled when she heard Lopes wanted his men to stay at the house. „Tell him to take them to the village,” she said to Sharpe, and Sharpe carried her suggestion to the Schoolteacher.
Lopes laughed when he heard the message. „Her father was a pompous bastard too,” he said.
„You knew him?”
„I knew of him.
„The Schoolteacher,” Sharpe repeated.
„Because that is what I was,” Lopes responded energetically. „I owned a school in Braganga where I taught ungrateful little bastards English, Latin, Greek, algebra, rhetoric and horsemanship. I also taught them to love God, honor the King and fart in the face of all Spaniards. Now, instead of wasting my breath on halfwits, I kill Frenchmen.” He offered Sharpe an extravagant bow. „I am famous for it.”
„I’ve not heard of you,” Sharpe said.
Lopes just smiled at the challenge. „The French have heard of me, senhor,” he said, „and I have heard about you. Who is this Englishman who lives safe north of the Douro? Why do the French leave him in peace? Who is the Portuguese officer who lives in his shadow? Why are they here? Why are they making a toy fort on the watchtower hill? Why are they not fighting?”
„Good questions,” Sharpe said dryly, „all of them.”
Lopes looked at the Quinta again. „Everywhere else in Portugal, senhor, where the French have left their dung, they have destroyed places like this. They have stolen the paintings, broken the furniture and drunk the cellars dry. Yet the war does not come to this house?” He turned to stare down the driveway where some twenty or thirty men had appeared. „My pupils,” he explained, „they need rest.”
The „pupils” were his men, a ragged band with which Lopes had been ambushing the French columns that carried ammunition to the gunners who fought against the Portuguese troops still holding the bridge at Amarante. The Schoolteacher had lost a good few men in the fights and admitted that his early successes had made him too confident until, just two days before, French dragoons had caught his men in open ground. „I hate those green bastards,” Lopes growled, „hate them and their big swords.” Nearly half his men had been killed and the rest had been lucky to escape. „So I brought them here,” Lopes said, „to recover, and because the Quinta do Zedes seems like a safe haven.”
Kate bridled when she heard Lopes wanted his men to stay at the house. „Tell him to take them to the village,” she said to Sharpe, and Sharpe carried her suggestion to the Schoolteacher.
Lopes laughed when he heard the message. „Her father was a pompous bastard too,” he said.
„You knew him?”
„I knew of him.