JК
Sharpes Gold :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 26 из 179He started barking, and Sharpe realized, after a moment's panic, that the Major was laughing. 'They'll buy guns, Sharpe, to kill the French.
'I thought the gold was for us, sir. The British.
Kearsey sounded like a dog coughing, Sharpe decided, and he watched as Kearsey almost doubled over with his strange laugh. 'Forgive me, Sharpe. For us? What a strange idea. It's Spanish gold, belongs to them. Not for us at all! Oh, no! We're just delivering it safely to Lisbon and the Royal Navy will ship it down to Cadiz. Kearsey started his strange barking again, repeating to himself, 'For us! For us!
Sharpe decided it was not the time, or place, to enlighten the Major. It did not matter much what Kearsey thought, as long as the gold was taken safely back over the river Coa. 'Where is it now, sir?
'I told you. Casatejada. Kearsey bristled at Sharpe, as though he resented giving away precious information, but then he seemed to relent and sat on the edge of the telegraph platform and riffled the pages of his Bible as he talked. 'It's Spanish gold. Sent by the government to Salamanca to pay the army. The army gets defeated, remember? So the Spaniards have a problem. Lot of money in the middle of nowhere, no army, and the countryside crawling with the French. Luckily a good man got hold of the gold, told me, and I came up with the solution.
'The Royal Navy.
'Precisely! We send the gold back to the government in Cadiz.
'Who's the "good man", sir?
'Ah. Cesar Moreno. A fine man, Sharpe. He leads a guerrilla band. He brought the gold from Salamanca.
'How much, sir?
'Sixteen thousand coins.
The amount meant nothing to Sharpe. It depended how much each coin weighed. 'Why doesn't Moreno bring it over the border, sir?
Kearsey stroked his grey moustache, twitched at his cloak, and seemed unsettled by the question. He looked fiercely at Sharpe, as if weighing up whether to say more, and then sighed. 'Problems, Sharpe, problems. Moreno's band is small and he's joined up with another group, a bigger group, and the new man doesn't want us to help. This man's marrying Moreno's daughter, has a lot of influence, and he's our problem. He thinks we just want to steal the gold! Can you imagine that? Sharpe could, very well, and he suspected that Wellington had more than imagined it. Kearsey slapped at a fly. 'Wasn't helped by our failure two weeks ago.
'Failure?
Kearsey looked unhappy. 'Cavalry, Sharpe. My own regiment, too. We sent fifty men and they got caught. He chopped his hand up and down as if it were a sabre. 'Fifty. So we lost face to the Spanish.
'I thought the gold was for us, sir. The British.
Kearsey sounded like a dog coughing, Sharpe decided, and he watched as Kearsey almost doubled over with his strange laugh. 'Forgive me, Sharpe. For us? What a strange idea. It's Spanish gold, belongs to them. Not for us at all! Oh, no! We're just delivering it safely to Lisbon and the Royal Navy will ship it down to Cadiz. Kearsey started his strange barking again, repeating to himself, 'For us! For us!
Sharpe decided it was not the time, or place, to enlighten the Major. It did not matter much what Kearsey thought, as long as the gold was taken safely back over the river Coa. 'Where is it now, sir?
'I told you. Casatejada. Kearsey bristled at Sharpe, as though he resented giving away precious information, but then he seemed to relent and sat on the edge of the telegraph platform and riffled the pages of his Bible as he talked. 'It's Spanish gold. Sent by the government to Salamanca to pay the army. The army gets defeated, remember? So the Spaniards have a problem. Lot of money in the middle of nowhere, no army, and the countryside crawling with the French. Luckily a good man got hold of the gold, told me, and I came up with the solution.
'The Royal Navy.
'Precisely! We send the gold back to the government in Cadiz.
'Who's the "good man", sir?
'Ah. Cesar Moreno. A fine man, Sharpe. He leads a guerrilla band. He brought the gold from Salamanca.
'How much, sir?
'Sixteen thousand coins.
The amount meant nothing to Sharpe. It depended how much each coin weighed. 'Why doesn't Moreno bring it over the border, sir?
Kearsey stroked his grey moustache, twitched at his cloak, and seemed unsettled by the question. He looked fiercely at Sharpe, as if weighing up whether to say more, and then sighed. 'Problems, Sharpe, problems. Moreno's band is small and he's joined up with another group, a bigger group, and the new man doesn't want us to help. This man's marrying Moreno's daughter, has a lot of influence, and he's our problem. He thinks we just want to steal the gold! Can you imagine that? Sharpe could, very well, and he suspected that Wellington had more than imagined it. Kearsey slapped at a fly. 'Wasn't helped by our failure two weeks ago.
'Failure?
Kearsey looked unhappy. 'Cavalry, Sharpe. My own regiment, too. We sent fifty men and they got caught. He chopped his hand up and down as if it were a sabre. 'Fifty. So we lost face to the Spanish.