'Sergeant!
Harper turned, relief visible on his face in the light from the burning house. Sharpe dropped back into the cellar, heaved the wounded man on to the ground, leaped up himself, and reached down for the girl. She ignored him, pulled herself up, rolled into the grass, and Sharpe had a glimpse of long legs. There were cheers from the men and Sharpe realized they were for him. Harper was there, thumping his back, saying something unintelligible about thinking Sharpe was lost, and then the Sergeant had the wounded man and they were running towards the Company and Sharpe, for the first time, saw horsemen in the darkness. Harper gave the wounded man into the ranks. Knowles was grinning at Sharpe, Kearsey gesturing to the girl.
'Are they loaded? Sharpe gestured at the muskets, screamed at Knowles over the sound of the burning house.
'Most, sir.
'Keep going!
Sharpe pushed Knowles on, driving the Company towards the barley field and the comforting darkness, and turned to face the house and see what the cavalry were doing. Harper was already there, running backwards, the seven-barrelled gun threatening any horsemen. Sharpe wondered how long it had been since they had burst through the gate. No more than seven or eight minutes, he decided. Enough time for his men to have fired seven or eight hundred shots into the astonished French, set fire to the house, rescued Kearsey, the girl and the prisoner, and he grinned in the darkness.
'Watch right! Harper called. A dozen lancers, in line, with the wicked points held low so that they glittered by the ground were coming at a trot, to take the Company in the flank. But there was still time. 'Right wheel!
The Company turned, three ranks swivelling. 'Halt! A ragged line, but it would do. 'Rear rank about turn. Hold your fire! That looked after the rear. 'Present! Aim at their stomachs; give them a bellyache! Fire!
It was inevitable. The enemy became a turmoil of falling horses and tumbling lancers. 'Right turn! Forward! Double! He had the small company in a column now. Running for the barley, for the unharvested crop that would give them a little cover. There were more hoof-beats behind, but not enough loaded muskets to fight off another charge. Time only to run. 'Run!
The Company ran, sprinting despite their burdens, and Sharpe heard a wounded man groan. Time later to count the wounded. Now he turned, saw lancers coming in desperate chase, one aiming at Harper, but the Irishman dashed the lance aside with the squat gun and reached up a huge hand that plucked the Pole clean out of the saddle. The Sergeant was screaming insults in his native Gaelic. He held the lancer effortlessly, his huge strength making the man seem to be weightless, and then threw him at the feet of an other horse. A rifle cracked behind Sharpe, another horse down, and Hagman's voice came through the din. 'Got him.
'Back! Harper was shouting, the other horses still yards away, and suddenly the barley was under Sharpe's feet, and he ran into the field, and for a moment the trumpets meant nothing to him. He was just running, remembering the Indian with the razor point, the desperate and futile attempt to run from the lance, and then he heard Harper's triumphant voice.
'The recall! Bastards have had enough! Harper was grinning, laughing. 'You did it, sir!
Sharpe slowed down, let the breath heave in his chest. It was strangely quiet in the field, the hooves muted, the gunfire stopped, and he guessed that the French refused to believe that just fifty men had attacked the village. The sight of red jackets and crossbelts would have convinced them that more British troops would be out in the darkness and it would be madness to throw the lancers into the massed volley of a hidden regiment. He listened to the men panting, some moaning as they were carried, the excited mutterings of victorious troops. He wondered what the price would be and turned to Harper. 'Are you all right?
'Yes, sir. Yourself?
'Bruised. What's the bill?
'Don't know for certain, sir. Jim Kelly's bad. Harper's voice was sad and Sharpe remembered the wedding, only weeks ago, when the massive Pru Baxter had woven daisies into her hair to marry the small Irish Corporal. Harper went on. 'Cresacre was bleeding, says he's all right. We lost a couple, though. Saw them in the courtyard.
'Who? He should have known.
'Don't know, sir.
They climbed, up into the hills, up where horses could not go, back to the gully, which they reached as the far hills were lined with the faintest grey of dawn. It was a time for sleep and the men crumpled like the bodies in the cellar. Some were posted as picquets at the gully's rim, their eyes red with exhaustion, smeared with powder, grinning at Sharpe, who had brought them through. The girl sat with Kearsey, binding up his leg, while Knowles looked after the other wounded. Sharpe stood over him.
'How bad?
'Kelly's going, sir.
The Corporal had a chest wound and Knowles had picked away the shreds of jacket to show a mangled horror of glistening ribs and bubbling blood. It was a wonder he had lived this long. Cresacre had been shot in the thigh, a clean wound, and he dressed it himself, swore he would be all right, and apologized to Sharpe as if he were making a nuisance of himself. Two others were badly wounded, both cut with sabres, but they would live, and there was hardly a man who did not have a scratch, a bruise, some memento of the night. Sharpe counted heads. Forty-eight men, three Sergeants, and two officers had left the gully. Four men had not come back. Sharpe felt the tiredness wash through him, tinged with relief. It was a smaller bill than he dared hope for. Once Kelly died, his body kept from the vultures by a shallow grave, he would have lost five men. The lancers must have lost three times that number. He went round the Company, to those who were awake, and praised them. The men seemed embarrassed by the thanks, shaking as the sweat dried on their bodies in the cold air, their heads jerking as some tried to stay awake and look, red-eyed, into the dawn.
'Captain Sharpe! Kearsey was standing in a clear patch of the gully. 'Captain!
Sharpe went down the side of the gully. 'Sir?
Kearsey stared at him, his small eyes fierce. 'Are you mad, Sharpe?
For a second the meaning did not percolate into Sharpe's head.
'I beg your pardon, sir?
'What were you doing?
'Doing, sir? Rescuing you. Sharpe had expected thanks.
Kearsey winced, whether from the pain of his leg or from Sharpe's ingenuousness it was difficult to tell. The dawn was revealing the details of the gully: the collapsed men, the blood, the anger on Kearsey's face. 'You fool!
Sharpe bit back his anger. 'Sir?
Kearsey waved at the wounded. 'How do you get them back?
'We carry them, sir.
'Carry them, sir. Kearsey mimicked him. 'Over twenty miles of country? You were only here to help carry the gold, Sharpe! Not fight a battle in the back of beyond!
Sharpe took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to shout back. 'Without you, sir, we would have had no chance of persuading El Catolico to let us take the gold. That was my judgment.
Kearsey looked at him, shook his head and pointed at Jim Kelly. 'You think it was worth that?
'The General told me the gold was important, sir. Sharpe spoke quietly.
'Important, Sharpe, only because it is a gesture to the Spanish.
'Yes, sir. It was no time for an argument.
'At least you rescued them. The Major waved at the two Spaniards.
Sharpe looked at the girl's dark beauty. 'Them, sir?
'Moreno's children. Teresa and Ramon. The French were holding them as bait, hoping Moreno or El Catolico would try a rescue. At least we've earned their thanks and that's probably more valuable than carrying the gold for them. Besides, I doubt if the gold is there.
The sun split across the gully's rim. Sharpe blinked. 'Pardon, sir?
'What do you expect? The French are there. They probably have the gold. Or hadn't that occurred to you?
It had, but Sharpe was not in a mood to give Kearsey his thoughts. If the French had found the gold he suspected they would have ridden it straight to Ciudad Rodrigo, but doubtless Kearsey would not be convinced. Sharpe nodded. 'Did they say anything about it to you, sir?