"WOMEN SCREAMING" "BABIES CRYING" "TRUMPET" "You, soldier, dance with me." "I do not dance." "Do not, sir?" "Or cannot?" "Will not, then." "If it please you." "It does not please me." "WOMEN'S LAUGHTER" "I am resolved to step a measure with every man here present." "And have a wager of my friends to do the same." "What do you say to that?" "You lose." "Not lost your touch with the ladies, then?" "What the hell are we doing here anyway?" "You saw the dispatch." "Aye, the governor requests your presence." "But why?" "I thought we were headed home." "We are, Pat." "We are, I promise." "Colonel Sharpe?" "One moment, sir." "Damn the man, damn him to hell." "God rot all quill suckers, heh?" "We sweat and bleed and die upon their whim." "And for what thanks?" "If it's gratitude you're after, then you've joined the wrong army." "You may well be right at that." "Colonel?" "Sharp." "Richard Sharpe." "Count Vladimir Alexei Dragomirov, 3rd Native Horse." "You have business with the governor?" "Tread lightly." "Sedgefield is a wily, old devil." "Your Excellency, Colonel Sharpe." "Colonel, His Excellency Viscount Sedgefield." "I'm told you have a nose for mischief, Colonel Sharpe." "Told, sir?" "His Grace, Lord Wellington." "After this late rebellion, only recently put down, we find ourselves, alas, already facing fresh dangers." "Bandits, Sharpe, in the high hills." "Under the thrall of a cutthroat named Chitu." "Causing no end of havoc with Company operations." "Villages put to fire and sword." "The harvest disrupted." "Sorry to hear that." "Indeed." "A Company squadron under Count Dragomirov has been dispatched to find this Chitu." "And, so far, without success." "You are requested upon the highest authority, to do better." "I am no longer in the service of His Majesty." "My business in India concluded." "I am for Calcutta and England." "I cannot persuade you?" "Perhaps then, might at least you be prevailed upon to perform one last duty?" "In which, I assure you, there is no peril to yourself." "Aye." "If I can." "I have in my care a property." "Like yourself, bound for the north." "May I look to you for its safe conveyance?" "Aye." "Very well." "Your word?" "What is it, this property?" "Ah, Colonel Sharpe," "I have the honour to present Mademoiselle Marie-Angelique Bonnet." "Who is she?" "Damned if I know." "Her fiance is a Company major, name of Joubert." "Stationed at Kalimgong." "Where, in God's arse, is Kalimgong?" "Company hill station, on the way, Sedgefield says." "SIMPLE TUNE" "SOLDIERS SINGING" "Major Tredinnick, sahib." "Marvellous, marvellous." "Who commands this column?" "Why, sir, no man." "All men." "We are, you might say, a regular Captain Copperthorne's crew." "A gentleman asks a civil question, he expects an answer in kind and none of your riddles." "What he means to say, sir, after his fashion, is the matter would depend on whether you meant Company troops or king's." "For we number both amongst the column." "Your officer will do for now." "Very good." "I'd be glad if our mounts could be fed and watered." "And someone to see to the lady's comforts also." "Quilter, Deever." "This way, gentlemen." "How is it you come to be travelling along Company's routes." "I was ordered, sir." "There's bandits hereabouts, all manner of heathen deviltry." "Sooner than have troops venture forth in small bands, we thought it best to combine all soldiery samewise bound into one column." "Mind how you tread, that is elephant shit." "These gentlemen were hoping to speak with you, sir." "Very good, Colour Wormwood." "Would you want me to remain, sir?" "In case there's any questions?" "I'm sufficient to the task." "Very good, sir." "You'll forgive Colour Wormwood's familiarity, gentlemen." "Being not long in India, I find myself beneath his wing." "Ensign Beauclere, 69th Foot." "Colonel Richard Sharpe, late of the South Essex." "Sergeant Major Harper." "Your pardon, Colonel..." "You may dispense with formalities." "I hold no present commission." "Mr Harper and myself are about some private business on the governor's request." "And yourself?" "I command a small prisoner escort, sir." "Bound for Calcutta." "I'd hardly call such numbers small, Mr Beauclere." "What have you in your charge?" "Some regicide?" "No, sir." "You misapprehend me." "For the most part, what you see here is the royal train of the Maharani Padmini Devi of Jhalawar." "A princess?" "Her highness travels to Pankot under protection of Company detachment." "With Subedar Pillai commanding." "As for regicide, I fear my prisoner is in no mean so worthy of note." "So what was the offence?" "The murder of an officer, sir, in furtherance to robbery of the regimental stores." "Oh." "The commissariat sets great store by its spoons, so it does." "Subedar Pillai, then... ..is in charge of the safety of this column." "Do it." "Do it, man!" "Not like that, you'll kill him." "You've got the blade the wrong way round." "You need to line it up along the vein, not across it." "Are you a farrier?" "I know how to bleed a horse without killing it." "What are you waiting for, then?" "Do it." "Hold onto that." "Right." "Keep the bugger steady, Pat." "He's fine." "Easy, boy." "Take it nice and easy." "Easy now." "WHINNYING" "Easy, boy." "Just keep him there, Pat, keep him there." "I reckon you'll live." "We are most grateful, Mr...?" "Sharpe." "Colonel Sharpe." "Sergeant Major Harper." "For future, a wee bit of ginger added to his feed might help, ma'am." "Ask what reward you will of Subedar Pillai for your service." "It shall be met." "The beast out of his misery is reward enough, ma'am." "I'll be glad of some words with the Subedar." "Yes, Colonel?" "I... was wondering, Subedar, if you have any sound intelligence as to the bandits ranging hereabout." "I have a certain cargo in my charge." "And I'm anxious for its safety." "You mean to leave me here in the company of common soldiers?" "Good practice I'd have thought." "You're set to marry one, aren't you?" "Major Joubert is a gentleman." "Yeah?" "Then, God help him." "The Company officer has given me his word provision will be made till you're safely to Kalimgong." "You gave your word to Viscount Sedgefield." "If there are bandits in these hills, then this column affords you far better safety than us." "The colonel is right, ma'am." "I'm glad of it." "At least I shall no longer be kept awake by your snoring." "I don't snore." "Like a carthorse." "And since you are set upon your fait accompli, there is nothing further to say." "Monsieur." "She took it rather well, I thought." "Colonel Sharpe?" "Mrs Tredinnick." "My husband is the major of the engineers." "I'm certain he'd wish me to present his compliments and an invitation to dine with us this evening." "That's really kind of you, ma'am, but..." "We'd be delighted." "Mr Harper, ma'am." "Well, until this evening, then." "I was gonna say no." "Are you all right?" "Listen, you need to see a surgeon." "I'll do no such thing." "I'll speak to Pillai." "Oh, a Company surgeon?" "I'd rather let you loose with a hammer and fleam." "I'll be all right, Richard." "Truly I will." "OK." "I'll fetch us kit." "We're bedding down here." "Yeah." "Who's them strangers walking Bo Peep, then, Colour?" "No business of yours, Quilter." "See the prisoner is fed and watered." "He won't have none." "Nevertheless it must be offered." "King's Regulations are very clear on this point." "So look alive." "Run your vittels." "Do you want 'em or don't you?" "Tis a matter of indifference to me." "But I must fetch 'em here and here as I am bid, no matter." "Corp, it isn't worth taking on." "When we get back to the lines, Colour will speak on your part." "That being done, seems to me you'll either hang or you won't." "And there's an end on it." "What a comfort you are." "What's your name, then, Corporal?" "Barabbas." "Bloody hell." "I thought Dick were bad." "Barabbas?" "A Bible name, in't it?" "I had it off a priest at the Scottish Mission." "Oh, aye, foundling." "No shame in that." "Half the world were got without ceremony." "Not always the worst half either." "Deserve it, did he, the officer you killed?" "I've known many that have." "But robbery, mind... regimental stores." "I'd sooner an honest murderer than a man as thieves off his mates." "But I expect you'll tell me you're neither." "I've never met a guilty man." "Colonel Sharpe." "Mr Harper." "You honour our table." "Thank you, Major." "Now, if I may, Reverend Watkin." "Ensign Beauclere you know." "My wife, of course." "Miss Bonnet..." "And I are already acquainted." "Oh, of course." "Well, we wait only upon..." "Ah, there he is." "Good evening, Subedar." "My apologies, I was detained..." "Argh!" "SHOUTING" "Take cover!" "King's men to me!" "69th to me!" "Colour Wormwood, defend the camp!" "Chitu's men?" "Like as not." "What's the bill, Mr Beauclere?" "Her Highness and the commonality are all accounted for, sir." "Of Company troops, four are numbered dead, including the surgeon." "Six are wounded, of which two, including Subedar Pillai, are like to die." "And your own section?" "Not a man come to harm, sir." "Colour Wormwood confides they gave good account of themselves." "Though I confess, with all that befell..." "I'm hard pressed to order events." "The fire and the fighting." "The horses an' all." "Your first action?" "Yes, sir." "You did well." "I would hope so, sir." "I was, you see, born to a soldier." "Indeed?" "Perhaps you met him." "You will have heard of him almost certainly." "He was the man brevetted major at Vittoria for capturing Marshal Jourdan's baton." "I don't believe I know him." "You would have taken to him, sir." "For he was very brave." "Much admired by his men." ""Was", Mr Beauclere?" "He fell, sir, at Roncesvalles." "When I was a boy." "And there was I thinking it was you and me that came across the marshal's baton at Vittoria, abandoned in the baggage train along with King Joe's royal Jakes pot." "'Appen your memory is off, Pat?" "A common effect of advancing years, I understand." "I posted pickets but... ..their throats were cut." "I should have done more." "You did all that could be expected." "I must beg of you a service, Colonel." "Will you stay with the column?" "At least as far as Kalimgong." "It's a lot to ask, I know, but... it's only two days march." "Besides," "I should rest a lot easier, knowing... ..a senior officer were among us." "You have Major Tredinnick." "An engineer, Colonel, he is not a soldier." "Subedar Pillai is correct, Colonel." "Better by far, the men have someone of both rank and martial reputation to look to at such a time." "You may depend on my support." "In every particular." "I'm grateful." "Gentlemen." "Colour Wormwood." "Make ready the column to move out." "Mr Beauclere?" "Whatever instruction you receive off Colonel Sharpe, you may take as if the order were my own." "If you say so, sir." "Within the hour!" "Colour Wormwood." "What could I say?" "Huh?" "Do you hear me complaining?" "Just so far as this hill station." "Two days, then we're away." "So, who is he, then, Paddy?" "Your Colonel Sharpe?" "That would be "Mr Harper" or "Sergeant Major Harper", when addressing me, Private Croop." "Who is he, though?" "He put Colour Wormwood in a brown study." "You'd know, Dan, you'd know." "For of all studies, I swear, there's none as brown as yours." "He's no proper officer, that much is plain." "He's more of an officer than you'll ever meet, Croop." "He don't talk like no officer." "He may not have the holiday and lady terms that some of your peacocks so easily command, but when your back is against the wall, he's the one man you want beside you." "How is the Subedar?" "Very weak, ma'am." "He has lost much blood." "Though he suffers me to touch him, he will take of me no water." "Even this I am only able to do when he sleeps." "Dustoor hai." "It's the custom, a stricture of his birth." "But if he does not let me help him, he will die." "Perhaps, but..." "Subedar Pillai would sooner death than to break his caste." "Colour Wormwood." "Volunteers for a forage party." "Your section will serve." "Begging your pardon, sir, but that's coolie work." "Can't have King's men cutting corn, not while Company troops are sat on their arses." "Company troops are needed here, Colour." "To protect the column." "And if the bandits should return, sir?" "Company troops made a pretty poor show of it last evening." "And Mr Beauclere is only a lad." "A mount of pluck is worth a ton of shit and that lad has got pluck." "So would you with a name to live up to." "'Appen his father were a brevet major." "Captured Marshal Jourdan's baton at Vittoria." "Begging your pardon, again, sir, but I wouldn't put much money into that tale." "There's only one Beauclere I know of at Vittoria." "And he was no brevet major." "Bewrayed his breeches at the first volley and turned tail." "Provosts found him after the battle, at an inn, drunk as a judge and in such a condition, put a rope to his neck." "You are mistaken, Colour Wormwood." "There was another Captain Beauclere upon the field that day." "Indeed, sir." "And was there?" "I do not know the particulars of this other fellow, but I assure you it was my father who captured Jourdan's baton." "Aye." "Stay with the column, then, if that is your will." "Thank you, sir." "Something you wanted of us, Mr Beauclere?" "It's Miss Bonnet, sir." "She's taken a horse." "I tried to stop her, sir, but... she said she would only be some short while." "What the hell do you think you're about?" "I wanted to ride." "I can see that." "Perhaps you've forgot." "But only last night we were attacked by Chitu's bandits." "They will be far behind us by now." "I wouldn't be so sure." "If I can track you, so can they." "I will return presently." "Now, Madam!" "At once!" "God knows I didn't look for this duty." "But for better or worse," "I'm responsible for your safety." "Unhand me." "You are rude, sir." "You are rude and ignorant and an uncouth brute!" "And you, madam, are a spoiled, wilful, petulant and selfish young fool." "Selfish?" "If you will not take thoughts of your own well-being, then at least consider your fellow travellers." "I'm seeing the column safe to Kalimgong." "We aren't chasing you up and down the country." "Now, get on your mount and follow me back!" "Or will you have me carry you?" "You would not dare." "I was done with my ride anyway." "Do your duty now, boy." "You flow like the River Liffey." "Argh." "Sir." "Major sahib." "GUNSHOT" "SHOUTING" "We're being attacked, Your Highness." "SHOUTING" "Can you fight?" "SCREAMING" "Stay here and keep out of sight." "I'll do no such thing." "For once in your life, do as you're damn well told!" "Fall back!" "Fall back!" "King's men and Company to me!" "I told you to stay put!" "I could use a rifle." "Not a bloody chance." "We need every man we can get." "TRUMPET" "Count Dragomirov." "Colonel Sharpe." "By God," "I were never so glad to see a cavalryman." "May I impose then upon your hospitality for some short while?" "At least until our mounts are rested, and we may continue the pursuit?" "Aye." "And welcome." "Colour Wormwood will see you provisioned." "I must take count of our losses." "Colour Wormwood!" "Sir." "I want that prisoner secured now." "This instant." "You heard him." "Take him away." "Oh, I see the hand of God is upon you still..." "Corporal Hakeswill." "What did you call him?" "Corporal Hakeswill." "The luckiest soldier I ever met." "Hakeswill?" "God all bloody mighty." "Take it easy, please!" "Please!" "Hakeswill?" "Enough now!" "Come on!" "Hakeswill, where did you get your name, then, eh?" "HARPER:" "Stand off, Richard." "Barabbas?" "A fine gesture is that." "Stand off, please!" "Hakeswill!" "Hakeswill!" "And you give him a rifle?" "What's the matter, you bastard?" "Cat got your tongue?" "I'm talking to you." "Where did you get your name?" "From a man like you." "Aye." "Recoat was he?" "Sergeant?" "I know he was." "Obadiah." "Ah!" "I thought as much." "Thief." "Murderer." "Rapist." "That were your father, Barabbas." "Well, I'll not leave it to a court martial and the provosts." "I'll make an end of you here and now." "What's this man's father to you?" "He killed my wife." "Killed her." "And left our daughter motherless." "Now be content." "For all that, sir, this is not right." "Look to your business, Major." "If any man... comes between me and that bastard, I'll kill 'em." "Out of the way, Pat." "I can't let you do it." "Stand aside, damn you!" "You'll have to put me down first." "I regret I cannot spare any of my men to your escort." "But you may depend, with my squadron in pursuit, these devils will trouble you no further." "So, from here, where will you go?" "Kalimgong." "The Company garrison." "You should be safe there." "You should step down from the wagon, Miss Bonnet." "Take the air a while." "How is he?" "He's failing." "I do not know how much longer he can last without proper care." "I'm sure you're doing all that can be done." "We shall make Kalimgong tomorrow." "The Subedar shall have a surgeon." "And you, your Major Joubert." "I am obliged to you for your action during the attack." "Obliged?" "I am reluctant to be in your debt." "Having been the daughter of a soldier," "I care little for the profession." "Then upon one thing at least, we are in agreement." "As for any obligation," "I did my duty, ma'am." "Nothing more." "Have you not had enough excitement for one day?" "He's bad blood, Pat." "And that's an end on it." "God knows, Richard, I've never taken another man's side against you and I'm not gonna start now, but you are wrong." "Am I though?" "In this, yeah, you are." "Just keep him from my view." "One more day, Pat." "One more day and then I'm rid of 'em." "Miss Bonnet, Hakeswill, the whole damn lot." "Whoa." "Why do we delay?" "Is there difficulty?" "Merely a precautionary measure, ma'am." "Mr Harper and myself will reconnoitre the way ahead." "Reconnoitre?" "But...this is a Company hill station, is it not?" "Aye, ma'am." "And as such, I would expect to see some men." "At least upon the battlements." "Major Tredinnick, you have command." "Yes, sir." "Wormwood, bring your section." "Skirmish order." "Skirmish order, lads." "Secure the fort." "You heard the colonel, gentlemen." "Look to it." "Safe bloody harbour is this." "That Chitu bastard must have some strength to take a fort fully garrisoned." "An escalade maybe." "Under cover of dark." "Could have been over the walls and among them before the alarm were raised." "Here, sir, we've got a live 'un." "Christ God almighty." "Simmerson." "Do you know him, sir?" "Aye, Croop." "GROANING" "I know him." "HARPER:" "Deever." "Sir." "There's an infirmary under the north rampart." "Take the wounded there." "Sir." "Water." "Water." "I must have water." "Give him some." "Not too much now." "Just enough to wet his lips or else he'll split his guts." "God bless you, sir, God bless you." "Praise God, sweet Jesus, for mercy." "Mercy." "Do you know, Simmerson?" "Do you not know me?" "Aye, sir." "Thou art my redeemer, sir." "Dick Sharpe, Sir Henry." "Richard Sharpe." "The sweetest name in all the world, sir." "Come press your cheek against my lips, sir." "That I may kiss my blessed saviour." "The sun..." "We must save the harvest." "He's raving." "It might be a kindness to ease his suffering, sir." "I served once in a company almost wiped out by his orders." "He's a stupid, malicious bastard." "Aye." "For he's my stupid, malicious bastard." "If anybody has earned the right to do for him, it's me." "And I say he lives." "Oh, no." "No, no, no, no, no." "It won't do." "Am I to understand that gentlemen and ladies are to billet together?" "It is too much." "For shame, Mr Watkins, can not you show some fellow feeling?" "Miss Bonnet has suffered a great shock." "What shock?" "She's come here to meet her fiance." "And as to our quarters, well, surely, between us we can improve on our situation." "Why here even, a broom." "Might almost have been waiting upon us for use." "Perhaps, Reverend, fetch me some water and see if there is some scrubbing soap to be had." "Colour Wormwood." "The garrison must be put in the earth." "Will you organise a burial party?" "These hereabout lying dead is Company troops, Mr Harper." "What of it?" "You'll find the heathen is most particular about his funeral observances." "Is that a fact?" "You see... some is for burning, some for setting adrift along this holy river." "Whilst yet more has a fancy to have their insides pecked out by birds." "It is a... confusion." "Yet their wishes must be considered, lest we...affront the living." "Just seem them in the ground, will you, Wormwood?" "And leave the rest to the Almighty, hmm?" "You heard him, lads." "Get on with it." "To soldier I signed up for, I'm not a bloody grave digger." "It's my fancy we'll dig a church yard full before that long-legged jackanape is done with us." "Just make sure it ain't our own we're digging, Danny." "Oh, I means to, I means to." "The raiders have left us little of use, Colonel." "No food." "And the well is spoiled with the dead." "I had thought among the flotsam to find some hint of the garrison's fate." "A bandit attack." "I doubt the writer would have had time to make note of such before being himself overcome." "Yet someone has been here before me." "Unless these bandits are men of learning," "I can't reason their interest in books and parchment bonds." "Happen they've a taste for lists." "The army is fond of lists." "If you come upon any mention of Miss Bonnet's fiance, you'll let me know of it." "He's not among the dead?" "The only white man accounted for is Simmerson." "It's possible this Major Joubert is out on patrol." "I'll be glad to give her some hope." "My wife is offering such comfort and assurance as she can." "Aye." "You've a good 'un there, Major." "If you'll allow." "Indeed, Colonel." "I hold myself the luckiest of men." "Yet also, I fear, a selfish one." "There's a score of years and more between us, sir." "I wonder sometimes if she would have been happier with a younger man." "The choice was hers to make, Major." "To my mind, she chose wisely." "Aye, sir, aye." "As you say, fortune favours me beyond my deserving." "You'll catch 50 lashes if Colour Wormwood finds you." "Now then." "What have you?" "As fine a pair this soul ever laid eyes on." "Don't tell me there's some bevvy hid there still." "God bless officers." "Soldiers share!" "Always!" "But not here, eh?" "Let's find ourselves a bit of peace and quiet so we can enjoy it proper." "Should you be here, ma'am?" "I can send someone to relieve you." "My time is better occupied." "How fares the general?" "His thoughts come and go." "And the boy?" "Sleeping." "If you embrace Christ with all your heart, even at this late hour, all your sins will be washed as white as snow." "Come, sir." "I thought we'd cleared this place of vultures." "You must leave the sick to their rest, Mr Watkin." "As Madame tends to the physical, Colonel, so I look to tend the immortal soul." "As maybe, sir." "Yet you must come away." "Now, sir." "The man is dying." "Will you not let him go in peace?" "I am on God's work, Colonel." "God's work!" "You're a bloody hypocrite." "For shame, sir." "For shame." "At least Simmerson has cause for his madness." "You?" "You're the worst kind of lunatic." "About your business, sir, and try me no further." "Go, sir, sing, cry hallelujah and give amen to the top of your lungs, but not here." "WOMAN SINGING" "Hey, hey, hey." "Ah!" "Hello, missy." "How might a kiss be?" "Hold her, Ned, that I may have a kiss off her." "Leave her be." "All right?" "A pretty pickle and no mistake." "600 miles between here and home." "I don't think we can rely on Dragomirov's troopers to deliver us again." "We've done what we said." "We brought them safely here." "We have." "Ain't our business to do owt else." "I won't argue with that." "Right." "Right." "We should just... just leave them, then, eh?" "We should." "But you won't." "Major." "Major, there's been some trouble, sir." "Please, sir, come with me." "Just when it seemed to be going so well." "Keep to all as I foretold, girl, or the worst of it will come to you." "Savvy?" "What the hell is going on here, Colour?" "My men come along your sapper there, sir, looking to take his pleasure of the maid, he was, sir, by force." "Naturally, being concerned of her honour, they come to her defence." "You can ask the girl, sir." "Sir, I did not." "Their word against his, sir." "That's the very nub of it." "I can't believe a fine officer such as yourself would want to take sides with one of them." "Against your own." "Not only are you a liar, Wormwood, but a bloody fool also." "Liar, sir?" "That's a very serious charge, sir." "Very serious." "Not at all the sort of accusation an officer would make against an enlisted man without such proofs as would be necessary to back it up." "Proofs?" "Cases where the honour of an enlisted man have been impugned, sir, krs are very clear about such proofs, sir." "A barrack room lawyer, too, eh?" "King's Regulations is like the good book itself to such as I." "Then you'll know what the punishment is for running an indisciplined section." "Indisciplined?" "These men are unfit for duty through drink." "They are on drunk, sir, I grant, but on duty, sir?" "No, sir." "There we differs." "Do we, Colour?" "We does, sir." "I was raised up from the ranks, Wormwood." "You know what that means?" "It means you've done a feat, sir." "Usually." "It also means I know every dirty soldier's trick in the book." "Is that so, sir?" "It is so." "And I'll tell you something more." "Rape is a hanging offence." "Even attempted." "Rape's a hanging, drunk's a flogging." "And you in charge of all." "Sir." "I could break you for this." "Push you down to private." "I've seen some piss-poor sections in my time, by God I have," "But yours is a bloody disgrace." "Work-shy, gutless, but that is gonna change." "From now on, they are on picket." "Permanent." "And every spare second, you're gonna be on drill." "Pat." "Sir." "I want them sober and on the firestep within the hour." "Right, you sons of whores, you heard the officer." "Double, double, double!" "Aye, I know Robert." "Believe me." "If things were else, I'd hang 'em and have done with it." "But we've 600 mile of hostile country before us." "And I need every man I've got." "He will not be long now." "I'll stay by him." "There is no word of Philippe?" "No, ma'am, not yet." "But that he was not found amongst the rest... ..it's possible Major Joubert survived." "Joubert..." "Joubert!" "The devil." "The filthy devil." "Lie still, sir." "You are not yourself." "Joubert!" "The harvest." "We must save the harvest." "Stop him!" "Stop him..." "He's not in his right mind, ma'am." "I promise." "He'll be calling for my head." "BEAUCLERE:" "Sir." "I think he's gone, sir." "Aye." "Aye, he's that." "Sharpe means to lead us on to Calcutta." "Says who?" "Colour had it off his own lips." "Then we're dead men." "Someone should do something." "What though, boys?" "There's the rub." "And who to do it?" "Any volunteers?" "A soldier's solution, then." "We shall be like unto the Roman, when the parted his raiment into four, yet would not rend his vesture, but rather cast lots for it." "He that plucks the shortest measure from Deever's shut fist... shall stand assassin." "That's murder, Colour." "It's him or us, boys." "Him or us." "Pat." "Jesus." "Keep 'em back, Pat." "Tell 'em to keep back." "FLIES BUZZING" "How many?" "Too many. 60, 70." "Whole families, Richard." "Young and old." "Men, women, children, for the love of God." "This Chitu is as wicked a dog as I've ever known." "Aye." "But it's a strange kind of rebel that slaughters his own." "Do you not think?" "These people were farmers, Pat." "No threat to any." "Where's the profit in it?" "You've set your finger on the nub of the matter, Colonel." "There's more to this than simple rebellion." "I'm told you had some time this afternoon in conversation with Major Tredinnick, General." "Whom?" "We spoke of the attack upon Kalimgong, General." "You remember?" "Of course I remember." "Damned hard to forget." "Perhaps you'll be so good as to tell these gentlemen what befell." "Company half squadron arrived to collect the early harvest." "And this would have been the 70 chests mentioned in the Company writer's report?" "General?" "It would, sir." "I gave the task to my second-in-command." "First mistake." "Not my usual aide-de-camp." "But a damned Frenchman on temporary attachment." "Papers in order." "But I thought it a rum go over all the same." "Cavalryman, you see?" "Never trust a damned Frenchman." "Go on, sir." "The devil had my sepoys load his wagons." "Then once the job was done, damn my eyes if the major didn't mount up the cavalry and turn them upon us." "Entire garrison slaughtered to a man." "Only I was spared." "Who was he?" "I've told you." "Damn Frenchman." "Major Joubert, the 3rd Native Cavalry." "But we agreed, sir, you were confused upon the point." "Joubert is the fiance to the young lady who has been tending you in your infirmity." "I think I might remember the name of the devil who staked me out under the sun to die, sir." "Joubert." "Major Philippe Joubert." "Ma'am." "Non." "Philippe is dead." "The general is mistaken." "You said yourself." "Perhaps." "Yet we did not find him." "It's not possible." "You think I would marry such a man?" "What the hell was in those chests that was so important anyway?" "Opium, Pat." "Grown under licence from the Company and destined for China." "Same as they were raising in this village." "Colonel Sharpe is right, gentlemen." "The Company has these last years imported from China ever greater quantities of tea." "Tea must be bought with something." "It helped them to balance the books." "By selling China the one thing she craves." "You have not one whit of proof to support so scandalous an allegation." "I expect he does." "I had occasion myself to examine the writer's office." "There are some certain ledgers and accounting books missing." "The contents of which I intend upon my return to England, and to the everlasting shame of His Majesty's government, to make known." "It would seem this Joubert, then, sir, has resolved to enter into the trade himself." "Not just him, Mr Beauclere." "The half squadron of cavalry that came to Kalimgong was of the 3rd Native Horse." "It's Dragomirov." "Stealing the harvest." "And blame it on this rebel Chitu." "If such a man even exists." "There's something out there, sir." "Moving." "In those trees and bushes." "Skirmish order." "Halt!" "Who goes there?" "Sharpe." "Advance and be recognised." "What was it?" "A tiger?" "What?" "Yeah, a tiger, all right." "But only a littl'un." "The lass say owt?" "Men on horses, sir." "Bandits?" "Or "bad men" she says." "And one of them, their "chief" she called him, was white." "Why did Dragomirov let us carry on to the hill station?" "Happen he'd no notion then." "The fort had already fallen." "To Joubert." "Nor reason to care over much." "For we should have taken such slaughter to be the work of Chitu and his bandits." "More, sir, we should have returned to the lines bearing tales which served to further his deception." "Only, Joubert made a mistake." "He left alive a witness to his treachery." "If in ignorance, then, we presented no threat, we must assume that when Dragomirov is reunited with Joubert, the truth will out." "Aye." "We leave at first light." "HORSES WALKING" "DRAGOMIROV:" "They have been and gone." "I hope, Major Joubert, that your taste for the dramatic flourish is not about to cost us dear." "Monsieur." "If Simmerson died before Sharpe's column got here, all is well." "If he survived, however, to tell of your perfidy..." "The bridge is gone." "I'd say the rains have washed it away." "Colour Wormwood, take picket." "Sing out if any bugger comes." "Sir." "Pat." "Unhitch the wagons, turn the animals loose." "I understand Mr Nash is upon fashioning a pavilion very like your own for the Prince Regent, Your Highness." "In Brighton." "Brighton?" "A small town by the sea." "In Sussex." "When complete, I fancy it will be the gayest place under heaven." "Your Highness, I must ask you to dismount." "Dismount?" "Why?" "We bear enough provision for ourselves, ma'am." "The animals must be turned loose here and left to themselves." "I will not abandon my Chetak." "We've no choice, ma'am." "From here we go on foot." "Only those things essential to our journey may be carried." "Food, water, ammunition." "Keep that rope nice and tight now, Singh." "Nice and tight." "Only those things essential to our journey, Mr Watkin." "Maybe you did not hear." "But these things are essential, Colonel Sharpe." "Indeed?" "This is essential?" "And that, and these?" "They are liturgical accoutrements, sir." "Necessary to furnish my new mission at Banutola." "Once we've reached safe ground, you can make arrangements to have your equipment retrieved." "But, Colonel..." "THEY SPEAK IN A NATIVE TONGUE" "Where is she going?" "It's my looking glass." "With Colonel Sharpe's haste to have us abandon all our belongings, she forgot it." "We've no time for this, ma'am." "I know." "I told her so, Mr Harper, I told her, but... she insists." "I looked for you at Kalimgong, Colonel." "But I only found fresh graves and the garrison missing." "The fort was attacked and a company entire put to the sword." "Did none survive?" "None." "MARIE-ANGELIQUE:" "Philippe." "Non." "(WHISPERS)" "But I think one perhaps." "And by your lie, I must assume he has told you of his misfortune." "Leaving the commanding officer alive was an unnecessary cruelty on my associate's behalf." "Major Joubert." "I cannot allow your companions to reach the lines in receipt of such intelligence against me." "Are you gonna kill 'em?" "In any enterprise there is always spoilage." "But as gentlemen, can we not come to some reasonable agreement?" "You and I?" "There is no need for you to suffer along with the rest." "Nor indeed the good major's fianced bride." "THEY SPEAK FRENCH" "If it is a matter of scruple, I have always found gold the sovereign thing on earth for a troubled conscience." "There's not enough gold in the world to buy your life back." "My life?" "Well, we shall have our time." "Perhaps sooner than you think." "Quick." "Quick, get him across." "Colonel, sahib." "Come on, lass." "GUNSHOT" "Major!" "Get up, sir." "Get up." "I want them alive!" "Come on, Richard." "Up you come." "Come on." "Richard!" "Where the hell are you going?" "Can't leave her to 'em, Pat." "You go across that river, you're a dead man." "What good are you to her then?" "Damn it to hell!" "Stand by, you bastard!" "Colonel Sharpe." "Come on, lass." "It's time we were gone from this place." "Fire!" "I wish you an uncomfortable night."