JК
Sharpes Battle :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 49 из 244"
Hogan made a calming gesture with his hand, as if he feared Sharpe's voice might reach the worried officers. "You make your point, Richard."
"My point, sir, is that you told me to make them miserable. So that's what I'm doing."
"I just wasn't sure I wanted you to start a revolution in the process, Richard," Hogan said, "and certainly not in front of Valverde. You have to be nice to Valverde. One day, with any luck, you can kill him for me, but until that happy day arrives you have to butter the bastard up. If we're ever going to get proper command of the Spanish armies, Richard, then bastards like Don Luis Valverde have to be well buttered, so please don't preach revolution in front of him. He's just a simple-minded aristocrat who isn't capable of thinking much beyond his next meal or his last mistress, but if we're going to beat the French we need his support. And he expects us to treat the Real Companпa Irlandesa well, so when he's nearby, Richard, be diplomatic, will you?" Hogan turned as the group of Real Companпa Irlandesa 's officers led by Lord Kiely and General Valverde came close. Riding between the two aristocrats was a tall, plump, white-haired priest mounted on a bony roan mare.
"This is Father Sarsfield" — Kiely introduced the priest to Hogan, conspicuously ignoring Sharpe — "who is our chaplain. Father Sarsfield and Captain Donaju will travel with the company tonight, the rest of the company's officers will attend General Valverde's reception."
"Where you'll meet Colonel Runciman," Hogan promised. "I think you'll find him much to your Lordship's taste."
"You mean he knows how to treat royal troops?" General Valverde asked, looking pointedly at Sharpe as he spoke.
"I know how to treat royal guards, sir," Sharpe intervened. "This isn't the first royal bodyguard I've met."
Kiely and Valverde both stared down at Sharpe with looks little short of loathing, but Kiely could not resist the bait of Sharpe's comment. "You refer, I suppose, to the Hanoverian's lackeys?" he said in his half-drunken voice.
"No, my Lord," Sharpe said. "This was in India. They were royal guards protecting a fat little royal bugger called the Sultan Tippoo."
"And you trained them too, no doubt?" Valverde inquired.
"I killed them," Sharpe said, "and the fat little bugger too." His words wiped the supercilious look off both men's thin faces, while Sharpe himself was suddenly overwhelmed with a memory of the Tippoo's water-tunnel filled with the shouting bodyguard armed with jewelled muskets and broad-bladed sabres.
Hogan made a calming gesture with his hand, as if he feared Sharpe's voice might reach the worried officers. "You make your point, Richard."
"My point, sir, is that you told me to make them miserable. So that's what I'm doing."
"I just wasn't sure I wanted you to start a revolution in the process, Richard," Hogan said, "and certainly not in front of Valverde. You have to be nice to Valverde. One day, with any luck, you can kill him for me, but until that happy day arrives you have to butter the bastard up. If we're ever going to get proper command of the Spanish armies, Richard, then bastards like Don Luis Valverde have to be well buttered, so please don't preach revolution in front of him. He's just a simple-minded aristocrat who isn't capable of thinking much beyond his next meal or his last mistress, but if we're going to beat the French we need his support. And he expects us to treat the Real Companпa Irlandesa well, so when he's nearby, Richard, be diplomatic, will you?" Hogan turned as the group of Real Companпa Irlandesa 's officers led by Lord Kiely and General Valverde came close. Riding between the two aristocrats was a tall, plump, white-haired priest mounted on a bony roan mare.
"This is Father Sarsfield" — Kiely introduced the priest to Hogan, conspicuously ignoring Sharpe — "who is our chaplain. Father Sarsfield and Captain Donaju will travel with the company tonight, the rest of the company's officers will attend General Valverde's reception."
"Where you'll meet Colonel Runciman," Hogan promised. "I think you'll find him much to your Lordship's taste."
"You mean he knows how to treat royal troops?" General Valverde asked, looking pointedly at Sharpe as he spoke.
"I know how to treat royal guards, sir," Sharpe intervened. "This isn't the first royal bodyguard I've met."
Kiely and Valverde both stared down at Sharpe with looks little short of loathing, but Kiely could not resist the bait of Sharpe's comment. "You refer, I suppose, to the Hanoverian's lackeys?" he said in his half-drunken voice.
"No, my Lord," Sharpe said. "This was in India. They were royal guards protecting a fat little royal bugger called the Sultan Tippoo."
"And you trained them too, no doubt?" Valverde inquired.
"I killed them," Sharpe said, "and the fat little bugger too." His words wiped the supercilious look off both men's thin faces, while Sharpe himself was suddenly overwhelmed with a memory of the Tippoo's water-tunnel filled with the shouting bodyguard armed with jewelled muskets and broad-bladed sabres.