JК
Sharpes Gold :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 128 из 179'How does the work go?
'Well,my lord, excellently. But…
'I know. The money. Can it wait a week?
'Ten days.
Wellington's eyebrows went up in mock surprise. 'Some good news. Let's hope for more.
He passed on to other business, to a General Order that limited field officers' leave in Lisbon to just twenty-four hours. If they couldn't find a woman in that time, the General claimed, they might as well not stay on and look. There would be only one exception. The blue eyes looked at Hogan.
'If that damned rogue gets back, give him a month.
The damned rogue, with a hurting shoulder and a seething sense of frustration, was riding a horse into the intricate defences of Almeida. Lossow rode beside him.
'I'm sorry, Sharpe. We had no choice!
'I know. I know.
It was true, too, however grudgingly he admitted it. Every move was headed off by damned Frenchmen who seemed to be everywhere. They had been chased twice, lost a German trooper, and in the end, exhausted and hunted, they turned for the safety of the town. Sharpe had wanted to lay up in the country, travel in darkness, but the French were alerted and he knew that there was no sense in being chased ragged round the east bank of the Coa.
Straw torches, soaked in resin, flamed and smoked in the tunnelled gateway, casting lurid shadows on the Portuguese infantry who had dragged open the huge doors and now watched the tired men ride and walk into the town. The insides of Sharpe's legs were sore; he hated riding horses, but Lossow had insisted. The gold was all on horseback, carried by the Germans, and Sharpe looked at them, all alert, and then at Lossow.
'Why don't we ride straight through? Out the other side?
Lossow laughed. 'They must be fed! The horses, I mean. One good dinner of corn and they'll go through the French like the pox through a regiment. We go in the morning, ja?
'Dawn?
'Yes, my friend. Dawn."
There was still hope. The French had not even surrounded Almeida; they had ridden the last few miles unmolested, and Sharpe guessed that the cavalry patrols were concentrated to the north. In the southern sky, beyond the bulk of the castle, he could see the glow of fires, and assumed that the French had chosen the easier countryside in which to build their artillery park. To the west, where the river was so tantalizingly close, he had seen no fires, except in the distance, and they were British. Success was so close.
Kearsey, on yet another borrowed horse, led the procession into the Plaza.
'Well,my lord, excellently. But…
'I know. The money. Can it wait a week?
'Ten days.
Wellington's eyebrows went up in mock surprise. 'Some good news. Let's hope for more.
He passed on to other business, to a General Order that limited field officers' leave in Lisbon to just twenty-four hours. If they couldn't find a woman in that time, the General claimed, they might as well not stay on and look. There would be only one exception. The blue eyes looked at Hogan.
'If that damned rogue gets back, give him a month.
The damned rogue, with a hurting shoulder and a seething sense of frustration, was riding a horse into the intricate defences of Almeida. Lossow rode beside him.
'I'm sorry, Sharpe. We had no choice!
'I know. I know.
It was true, too, however grudgingly he admitted it. Every move was headed off by damned Frenchmen who seemed to be everywhere. They had been chased twice, lost a German trooper, and in the end, exhausted and hunted, they turned for the safety of the town. Sharpe had wanted to lay up in the country, travel in darkness, but the French were alerted and he knew that there was no sense in being chased ragged round the east bank of the Coa.
Straw torches, soaked in resin, flamed and smoked in the tunnelled gateway, casting lurid shadows on the Portuguese infantry who had dragged open the huge doors and now watched the tired men ride and walk into the town. The insides of Sharpe's legs were sore; he hated riding horses, but Lossow had insisted. The gold was all on horseback, carried by the Germans, and Sharpe looked at them, all alert, and then at Lossow.
'Why don't we ride straight through? Out the other side?
Lossow laughed. 'They must be fed! The horses, I mean. One good dinner of corn and they'll go through the French like the pox through a regiment. We go in the morning, ja?
'Dawn?
'Yes, my friend. Dawn."
There was still hope. The French had not even surrounded Almeida; they had ridden the last few miles unmolested, and Sharpe guessed that the cavalry patrols were concentrated to the north. In the southern sky, beyond the bulk of the castle, he could see the glow of fires, and assumed that the French had chosen the easier countryside in which to build their artillery park. To the west, where the river was so tantalizingly close, he had seen no fires, except in the distance, and they were British. Success was so close.
Kearsey, on yet another borrowed horse, led the procession into the Plaza.