"Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe 19 - Sharpe's Havoc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cornwell Bernard)

ДDidnТt know you could read, Dan,Ф Sharpe said.
ДI canТt, sir, but Isaiah read it to me.Ф
ДTongue!Ф Sharpe called. ДWhy would someone call their home House Beautiful?Ф
Isaiah Tongue, long and thin and dark and educated, who had joined the army because he was a drunk and thereby lost his respectable job, grinned. ДBecause heТs a good Protestant, sir.Ф
ДBecause heТs a bloody what?Ф
ДItТs from a book by John Bunyan,Ф Tongue explained, Дcalled PilgrimТs Progress.Ф
ДIТve heard of that,Ф Sharpe said.
ДSome folk consider it essential reading,Ф Tongue said airily, Дthe story of a soulТs journey from sin to salvation, sir.Ф
ДJust the thing to keep you burning the candles at night,Ф Sharpe said.
ДAnd the hero, Christian, calls at the House Beautiful, sirФ-Tongue ignored SharpeТs sarcasm-Уwhere he talks with four virgins.Ф
Hagman laughed. ДLetТs get inside now, sir.Ф
ДYouТre too old for a virgin, Dan,Ф Sharpe said.
ДDiscretion,Ф Tongue said, ДPiety, Prudence and Charity.Ф
ДWhat about them?Ф Sharpe asked.
ДThose were the names of the virgins, sir,Ф Tongue said.
ДBloody hell,Ф Sharpe said.
ДCharityТs mine,Ф Hagman said. ДPull your collar down, sir, thatТs the way.Ф He snipped at the black hair. ДHe sounds like he was a tedious old man, Mister Savage, if it was him what named the house.Ф Hagman stooped to maneuver the scissors over SharpeТs high collar. ДSo why did the Captain leave us here, sir?Ф he asked.
ДHe wants us to look after Colonel Christopher,Ф Sharpe said.
ДTo look after Colonel Christopher,Ф Hagman repeated, making his disapproval evident by the slowness with which he said the words. Hagman was the oldest man in SharpeТs troop of riflemen, a poacher from Cheshire who was a deadly shot with his Baker rifle. ДSo Colonel Christopher canТt look after himself now?Ф
ДCaptain Hogan left us here, Dan,Ф Sharpe said, Дso he must think the Colonel needs us.Ф
ДAnd the CaptainТs a good man, sir,Ф Hagman said. ДYou can let the collar go. Almost done.Ф
But why had Captain Hogan left Sharpe and his riflemen behind? Sharpe wondered about that as Hagman tidied up his work. And had there been any significance in HoganТs final injunction to keep a close eye on the Colonel? Sharpe had only met the Colonel once. Hogan had been mapping the upper reaches of the River Cavado and the Colonel and his servant had ridden out of the hills and shared a bivouac with the riflemen. Sharpe had not liked Christopher who had been supercilious and even scornful of HoganТs work. ДYou map the country, Hogan,Ф the Colonel had said, Дbut I map their minds. A very complicated thing, the human mind, not simple like hills and rivers and bridges.Ф Beyond that statement he had not explained his presence, but just ridden on next morning. He had revealed that he was based in Oporto which, presumably, was how he had met Mrs. Savage and her daughter, and Sharpe wondered why Colonel Christopher had not persuaded the widow to leave Oporto much sooner.
ДYouТre done, sir,Ф Hagman said, wrapping his scissors in a piece of calfskin, Дand youТll be feeling the cold wind now, sir, like a newly shorn sheep.Ф
ДYou should get your own hair cut, Dan,Ф Sharpe said.
ДWeakens a man, sir, weakens him something dreadful.Ф Hagman frowned up the hill as two round shots bounced on the crest of the road, one of them taking off the leg of a Portuguese gunner. SharpeТs men watched expressionless as the round shot bounded on, spraying blood like a Catherine wheel, to finally bang and stop against a garden wall across the road. Hagman chuckled. ДFancy calling a girl Discretion! It ainТt a natural name, sir. AinТt kind to call a girl Discretion.Ф
ItТs in a book, Dan,Ф Sharpe said, Дso it isnТt supposed to be natural.Ф He climbed to the porch and shoved hard on the front door, but found it locked. So where the hell was Colonel Christopher? More Portuguese retreated down the slope and these men were so frightened that they did not pause when they saw the British troops, but just kept running. The Portuguese cannon was being attached to its limber and spent musket balls were tearing at the cedars and rattling against the tiles, shutters and stones of the House Beautiful. Sharpe hammered on the locked door, but there was no answer.
ДSir?Ф Sergeant Patrick Harper called a warning to him. ДSir?Ф Harper jerked his head toward the side of the house and Sharpe backed away from the door to see Lieutenant Colonel Christopher riding from the stable yard. The Colonel, who was armed with a saber and a brace of pistols, was cleaning his teeth with a wooden pick, something he did frequently, evidently because he was proud of his even white smile. He was accompanied by his Portuguese servant who, mounted on his masterТs spare horse, was carrying an enormous valise that was so stuffed with lace, silk and satins that the bag could not be closed.
Colonel Christopher curbed his horse, took the toothpick from his mouth, and stared in astonishment at Sharpe. ДWhat on earth are you doing here, Lieutenant?Ф
ДOrdered to stay with you, sir,Ф Sharpe answered. He glanced again at the valise. Had Christopher been looting the House Beautiful?
The Colonel saw where Sharpe was looking and snarled at his servant, ДClose it, damn you, close it.Ф Christopher, even though his servant spoke good English, used his own fluent Portuguese, then looked back to Sharpe. ДCaptain Hogan ordered you to stay with me. Is that what youТre trying to convey?Ф
ДYes, sir.Ф
ДAnd how the devil are you supposed to do that, eh? I have a horse, Sharpe, and you do not. You and your men intend to run, perhaps?Ф
ДCaptain Hogan gave me an order, sir,Ф Sharpe answered woodenly. He had learned as a sergeant how to deal with difficult senior officers. Say little, say it tonelessly, then say it all again if necessary.
ДAn order to do what?Ф Christopher inquired patiently.
ДStay with you, sir. Help you find Miss Savage.Ф
Colonel Christopher sighed. He was a black-haired man in his forties, but still youthfully handsome with just a distinguished touch of gray at his temples. He wore black boots, plain black riding breeches, a black cocked hat and a red coat with black facings. Those black facings had prompted Sharpe, on his previous meeting with the Colonel, to ask whether Christopher served in the Dirty Half Hundred, the 50th regiment, but the Colonel had treated the question as an impertinence. ДAll you need to know, Lieutenant, is that I serve on General CradockТs staff. You have heard of the General?Ф Cradock was the General in command of the British forces in southern Portugal and if Soult kept marching then Cradock must face him. Sharpe had stayed silent after ChristopherТs response, but Hogan had later suggested that the Colonel was probably a ДpoliticalФ soldier, meaning he was no soldier at all, but rather a man who found life more convenient if he was in uniform. ДIТve no doubt he was a soldier once,Ф Hogan had said, Дbut now? I think Cradock got him from Whitehall.Ф
ДWhitehall? The Horse Guards?Ф
ДDear me, no,Ф Hogan had said. The Horse Guards were the headquarters of the army and it was plain Hogan believed Christopher came from somewhere altogether more sinister. ДThe world is a convoluted place, Richard,Ф he had explained, Дand the Foreign Office believes that we soldiers are clumsy fellows, so they like to have their own people on the ground to patch up our mistakes. And, of course, to find things out.Ф Which was what Lieutenant Colonel Christopher appeared to be doing: finding things out. ДHe says heТs mapping their minds,Ф Hogan had mused, Дand what I think he means by that is discovering whether Portugal is worth defending. Whether theyТll fight. And when he knows, heТll tell the Foreign Office before he tells General Cradock.Ф
ДOf course itТs worth defending,Ф Sharpe had protested.
ДIs it? If you look carefully, Richard, you might notice that Portugal is m a state of collapse.Ф There was a lamentable truth in HoganТs grim words. The Portuguese royal family had fled to Brazil, leaving the country leaderless, and after their departure there had been riots in Lisbon, and many of PortugalТs aristocrats were now more concerned with protecting themselves from the mob than defending their country against the French. Scores of the armyТs officers had already defected, joining the Portuguese Legion that fought for the enemy, and what officers remained were largely untrained, their men were a rabble and armed with ancient weapons if they possessed weapons at all. In some places, like Oporto itself, all civil rule had collapsed and the streets were governed by the whims of the ordenanqa who, lacking proper weapons, patrolled the streets with pikes, spears, axes and mattocks. Before the French had come the ordenanqa had massacred half of OportoТs gentry and forced the other half to flee or barricade their houses though they had left the English residents alone.
So Portugal was in a state of collapse, but Sharpe had also seen how the common people hated the French, and how the soldiers had slowed as they passed the gate of the House Beautiful. Oporto might be falling to the enemy, but there was plenty of fight left in Portugal, though it was hard to believe that as yet more soldiers followed the retreating six-pounder gun down to the river. Lieutenant Colonel Christopher glanced at the fugitives, then looked back at Sharpe. ДWhat on earth was Captain Hogan thinking of?Ф he asked, evidently expecting no answer. ДWhat possible use could you be to me? Your presence can only slow me down. I suppose Hogan was being chivalrous,Ф Christopher went on, Дbut the man plainly has no more common sense than a pickled onion. You can go back to him, Sharpe, and tell him that I donТt need assistance in rescuing one damned silly little girl.Ф The Colonel had to raise his voice because the sound of cannons and musketry was suddenly loud.
ДHe gave me an order, sir,Ф Sharpe said stubbornly.
ДAnd IТm giving you another,Ф Christopher said in the indulgent tone he might have used to address a very small child. The pommel of his saddle was broad and flat to make a small writing surface and now he laid a notebook on that makeshift desk and took out a pencil, and just then another of the red-blossomed trees on the crest was struck by a cannonball so that the air was filled with drifting petals. ДThe French are at war with the cherries,Ф Christopher said lightly.
ДWith Judas,Ф Sharpe said.
Christopher gave him a look of astonishment and outrage. ДWhat did you say?Ф
ДItТs a Judas tree,Ф Sharpe said.
Christopher still looked outraged, then Sergeant Harper chimed in. ДItТs not a cherry, sir. ItТs a Judas tree. The same kind that Iscariot used to hang himself on, sir, after he betrayed our Lord.Ф
Christopher still gazed at Sharpe, then seemed to realize that no slur had been intended. ДSo itТs not a cherry tree, eh?Ф he said, then licked the point of his pencil. ДYou are hereby orderedФ-he spoke as he wrote-Фto return south of the river forthwith-note that, Sharpe, forthwith-and report for duty to Captain Hogan of the Royal Engineers. Signed, Lieutenant Colonel James Christopher, on the forenoon of Wednesday, March the 29th in the year of our Lord, 1809.Ф He signed the order with a flourish, tore the page from the book, folded it in half and handed it to Sharpe. ДI always thought thirty pieces of silver was a remarkably cheap price for the most famous betrayal in history. He probably hanged himself out of shame. Now go,Ф he said grandly, Дand Сstand not upon the order of your going.Т Д He saw SharpeТs puzzlement, ДMacbeth, Lieutenant,Ф he explained as he spurred his horse toward the gate, Дa play by Shakespeare. And I really would urge haste upon you, Lieutenant,Ф Christopher called back, Дfor the enemy will be here any moment.Ф
In that, at least, he was right. A great spume of dust and smoke was boiling out from the central redoubts of the cityТs northern defenses. That was where the Portuguese had been putting up the strongest resistance, but the French artillery had managed to throw down the parapets and now their infantry assaulted the bastions, and the majority of the cityТs defenders were fleeing. Sharpe watched Christopher and his servant gallop through the fugitives and turn into a street that led eastward. Christopher was not retreating south, but going to the rescue of the missing Savage girl, though it would be a close-run thing if he were to escape the city before the French entered it. ДAll right, lads,Ф Sharpe called, Дtime to bloody scarper. Sergeant! At the double! Down to the bridge!Ф
ДAbout bloody time,Ф Williamson grumbled. Sharpe pretended not to have heard. He tended to ignore a lot of WilliamsonТs comments, thinking the man might improve but knowing that the longer he did nothing the more violent would be the solution. He just hoped Williamson knew the same thing.