Sharpes Gold   ::   Корнуэлл Бернард

Lieutenant Knowles, still awed by Sharpe, but agood officer, decisive and fair. Sharpe nodded at James Kelly, an Irish Corporal, who had stunned the Battalion by marrying Pru Baxter, a widow who was a foot taller and two stones heavier than the skinny Kelly, but the Irishman had hardly stopped smiling in the three months since the marriage. Sergeant Read, the Methodist, who worried about the souls of the Company, and so he should. Most were criminals, avoiding justice by enlisting, and nearly all were drunks, but they were in Sharpe's Company and he would defend them, even the useless ones like Private Batten or Private Roach, who pimped his wife for a shilling a time.

Sergeant Harper, the best of them all, moved alongside Sharpe. Next to the seven-barrelled gun he had slung two packs belonging to men who were falling with tiredness after the night's march. He nodded ahead. 'What's next, sir?

'We pick up the gold and come back. Simple.

Harper grinned. In battle he was savage, crooning the old stories of the Gaelic heroes, the warriors of Ireland, but away from the fighting he covered his intelligence with a charm that would have fooled the devil. 'You believe that, sir?

Sharpe had no time to reply. Kearsey had stopped, two hundred yards ahead, and dismounted. He pointed left, up the slope, and Sharpe repeated the gesture. The Company moved quickly into the stones and crouched while Sharpe, still puzzled, ran towards the Major. 'Sir?

Kearsey did not reply. The Major was alert, like a dog pointing at game, but Sharpe could see from his eyes that Kearsey was not sure what had alarmed him. Instinct, the soldier's best gift, was working, and Sharpe, who trusted his own instinct, could sense nothing. 'Sir?

The Major nodded at a hilltop, half a mile away. 'See the stones?

Sharpe could see a heap of boulders on the peak of the hill. 'Yes, sir.

'There's a white stone showing, yes? Sharpe nodded, and Kearsey seemed relieved that his eyes had not deceived him. 'That means the enemy are abroad. Come on.

The Major led his horse, Marlborough, into the tangle of rocks, and Sharpe followed patiently, wondering how many other secret signs they had passed in the night. The Company were curious, but silent, and Kearsey led them over the crest, into a rock-strewn valley, and then eastwards again, back on course for the village where the gold should be waiting.

'They won't be up here, Sharpe. The Major sounded certain.

'Where, then?

Kearsey nodded ahead, past the head of the valley. He looked worried. 'Casatejada.