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‘Gold for greed, women for jealousy, and death for the French. Right?’
Harper had not been looking forward to company prayers, but he had never wanted lancers to take away the unpleasant prospect.
the tall Rifle Captain who was not given to rousing speeches could nevertheless make men feel that the impossible was just a little troublesome and that victory was a commonplace where he led.
They stared back at him with the blank look soldiers keep for encouraging talks from unpopular officers.
Initium sapientiae timor domini.”
‘We have honour, Sharpe. That is our private strength, our honour. We’re soldiers, you and I. We cannot expect riches, or dignity, or continual victory. We will die, probably, in battle, or in a fever ward, and no one will remember us, so all that is left is honour. Do you understand?’
and was it not good of the German King who sat on the English throne to give him this chance?
he wished that every moment was this good, with a fine horse, a good turf, a blade made by the dwarves themselves, and an enemy for breakfast.
‘French patrols.’ Lossow’s hand described an arc to the west. ‘Like fleas on a bottom.’
An English Brigadier in the Portuguese army faced with a Spanish Colonel, an English Captain, a German cavalryman, Spanish gold, and no orders. He had an idea.
He was not afraid of decisions; they were his job and he despised men who feared to make them. But in the sudden moment, in the middle of the great Plaza, he felt the fear.
Sharpe did not expect them to provide an answer, but he wanted them to think through the steps, to know the argument, so that when he provided the solution, they would agree.
Three lines barred the Lisbon peninsula, three giant fortifications made with the hills themselves, fortifications that dwarfed the granite-works at Almeida.
