Beside the cistern.' He was pointing across the river. 'They're distracting us,' Gudin explained, 'drawing attention away from some others. One especially flamboyant group was shouting towards the city, and even waving, as though inviting cannon fire, and every now and then a cannon would boom or a rocket scream across the river, though somehow the jeering cavalrymen always remained untouched. Most were staying well out of range of Seringapatam's cannon, but a few braver souls were galloping closer to the city, either to tempt the Tippoo's cavalry to come out and dare single combat, or else to provoke the gunners on the city wall. 'Your old friends,' he said, indicating where the British and Indian cavalry were exploring the land between the army's encampment and the city. All a French doctor would do is bleed you dry, then console your widow.' The Colonel turned and gestured south across the river. If I ever go back to France I've a mind to take a native doctor with me. His fault was probably excessive honesty, and Hakeswill grinned. The new Ensign, Matthews, was a mere boy, and the only problem was Patrick Harper. That was good news it removed an obstacle, and Hakeswill had judged that Price would be no great problem. Two or three savage floggings and the Company would be eating out of his hand! There was even a rumor, that had flashed through the Battalion like wildfire, that Sharpe had lost the Company. It was extraordinary what a man would do to avoid a flogging, and what a woman would give to save her man from the lashes! It was so easy, and he laughed again. Pick your men, steal from them, then report the loss and have them charged, hoping that the new Colonel was a flogging man.
A horse moved in the stall behind him, light chinked between the thick, curved roof tiles, and the Sergeant was glad of the time to be alone, to think. Our tracking network sees no large asteroids or comets coming anywhere close to Earth's orbit in the foreseeable future, certainly not before the end of the next century. I can assure you, Admiral, said Friend,that disaster is not soaring in from the solar system.
0 kommentar(er)
