Sharpe's Fortress

Lieutenant Colonel Ke

The guns were firing, but he ignored the vast noise as he gazed at the stone ramps which his men must climb.

"They're steep, man, " he grumbled, 'damned steep."

"The walls are built on a slope, " Major Stokes pointed out, 'so the breaches are steep of necessity."

"Damned hard to climb though, " Ke

"They're practical, " Stokes declared. He knew the breaches were steep, and that was why the guns were still firing. There was no hope of making the breaches less steep, the slope of the hill saw to that, but at least the continued bombardment gave the attacking infantry the impression that the gu

"You've made holes in the walls, " Ke

You've made holes, but that don't make them practical holes, Stokes.

They're damned steep."

"Of necessity, " Stokes repeated patiently.

"We ain't monkeys, you know, " Ke

"I think you'll find them practical, sir, " Stokes said emolliently. He knew, and Ke

Ke

"I suppose they'll have to suffice, " he said grudgingly, snapping his telescope shut. He flinched as one of the eighteen pounders roared and billowed smoke all about the battery, then he strode into the acrid cloud, shouting for Major Plummer, the gu

Plummer, powder-stained and sweating, loomed out of the smoke.

"Sir?"

"You'll keep your pieces firing till we're well on the breaches?"

"I will, sir."

"That should keep their damned heads down, " Ke

"I make it ten minutes after nine."

"Eight minutes after, " Plummer said.

"Exactly nine o'clock, " Stokes said, tapping his watch to see if the hands were stuck.

"We'll use my timepiece, " Ke

He went to where his men crouched on the track that led to the fortress gate. They were sheltered from the defenders by the lie of the land, but the moment they advanced over a small rocky rise they would become targets. They then had three hundred yards of open ground to cross, and as they neared the broken walls they would be squeezed into the narrow space between the tank and the precipice where they could expect the fire of the defenders to be at its fiercest. After that it was a climb to the breaches and to whatever horrors waited out of sight.

The men sat, trying to find what small shade was offered by bushes or rocks. Many were half drunk, for their officers had issued extra rations of arrack and rum. None carried a pack, they had only their muskets, their ammunition and bayonets. A few, not many, prayed. An officer of the Scotch Brigade knelt bare-headed amongst a group of his men, and Ke

Behind Ke

An officer wearing the white facings of the 74th picked his way up the track between the waiting troops. The man had a cheap Indian sabre at his waist and, unusually for an officer, was carrying a musket and cartridge box. Ke

"Who the devil are you?"

"Sharpe, sir."

The name rang a bell in Ke

"Wellesley's man?"

"Don't know about that, sir."

Ke

"You were at Assaye, yes?"

"Yes, sir, " Sharpe admitted.

Ke

"So what the devil are you doing here, Sharpe? Your regiment is miles away! They're climbing the road from Deogaum."

"I was stranded here, sir, " Sharpe said, deciding there was no point in trying to deliver a longer explanation, 'and there wasn't time to join the 74th, sir, so I was hoping to go with my old company. That's Captain Morris's men, sir." He nodded up the track to where the 33rd's Light Company was gathered among some boulders.

"With your permission of course, sir."

"No doubt Morris will be glad of your help, Sharpe, " Ke

"Good luck to you, Sharpe."

"And the best to you, sir, " Sharpe said warmly.

He walked on, his borrowed musket heavy on his shoulder. Eli Lockhart and Syud Sevajee were waiting with their men among the third group, the soldiers who would occupy the fort after the assault troops had done their work, if, indeed, the leading two thousand men managed to get through the walls. A rumour was spreading that the breaches were too steep and that no one could carry a weapon and climb the ramps at the same time. The men believed they would need to use their hands to scramble up the stony piles, and so they would be easy targets for any defenders at the top of the breaches. The gu

Sharpe edged among sepoys who were carrying one of Major Stokes's bamboo ladders. The dark faces gri

"That's rare stuff, lads, " Sharpe said, then walked on towards his old comrades. They watched his approach with a mixture of surprise, welcome and apprehension. When the 33rd's Light Company had last seen Sharpe he had been a sergeant, and not long before that he had been a private strapped to the punishment triangle; now he wore a sword and sash. Although officers promoted from the ranks were not supposed to serve with their old units, Sharpe had friends among these men and if he was to climb the steep rubble of Gawilghur's breaches then he would rather do it among friends.

Captain Morris was no friend, and he watched Sharpe's approach with foreboding. Sharpe headed straight for his old company commander.