Portugal
1813
French,
Portuguese and British deserters have banded together
and taken over the village of Adrados. They are led
by 'Marshal Pot au Feu' and Sharpe's old enemy, Obadiah
Hakeswill, and they have two English women as hostages. Sarah
Dubreton, wife of a French officer and Lady Isabella Farthingdale,
the Portuguese wife of Sir Augustus Farthingdale.
In Wellington's camp, Sharpe is putting Lt. Gilliland and
his rocketeers through their paces. Sir Augustus Farthingdale arrives with the ransom for his
wife but is appalled at the idea of Sharpe, raised from the ranks, taking it. Teresa
escorts Sharpe and Harper part of the way to Adrados. When they get to
the village, they spot two Frenchmen and assume they are deserters. They
soon realise it is Sarah Dubreton's husband and his sergeant on the same rescue
mission.
The four men finally get to see the hostages, but Hakeswill has increased the
ransom, giving Sharpe five days to come up with the extra money or the women
will be raped. Dubreton tells Sharpe that Maj. Ducos, Napoleons spy master,
has forbidden any extra payment. Sharpe decides to mount a rescue.
Hakeswill
escapes to wreak his revenge on Teresa. He
is captured by Dubreton and handed over to the British to face
justice. Nairn receives information that the French
intend to invade Portugal from Adrados and decides to thwart
the plan. Sharpe is promoted to Major and given command of
the 60th Rifles in order to secure the safety of the women
and prevent the French from taking the town. |
Sarah: Don't worry. I'm married to a French colonel. We fell in
love before this war began. He's a brave man and he'll come
for me soon, I know he will.
Isabella: I'm married to an English colonel. He's a coward, and he
won't come at all.
|
Richard
Sharpe: No wonder Harris reads Voltaire. Listen: Dieu
ne pas pour le gros battalions, mais pour sequi teront
le meilleur.
Teresa: God is not on the side of the big battalions, but of the
best shots.
Richard Sharpe: Not bad for a Frog, eh? |
Isabella: Voltaire says, I have no morals, yet I am a very moral person.
And that's how I think I am.
Richard Sharpe: That's how I think you are, too. |
Nairn: You see that colonel, Sharpe? That colonel came here to make
you a major. Would you believe that?
Richard Sharpe: No, sir.
Nairn: Right hand up to God, Sharpe.
Richard Sharpe: That's your left hand, sir. |
Richard
Sharpe: What are you smiling at, Fredrickson?
Frederickson: I'm not smiling, sir. A musket ball broke my jaw. I have
false teeth. The sawbone stuck on the smile for free, sir.
He also stuck on my hair. Hair belongs to a horse, sir. |
| Pot
Au Fe: My friends, let us not fight! Let us eat! |
Teresa: Harper, I have half a bottle of the best Irish whisky from
the Irish priests at Salamanca.
Richard Sharpe: You speak a word and you're dead, Harper.
Patrick Harper: I'll be dead, but, sir, I'll be drunk. |
| Harris: I'll trade you a Voltaire, and a filthy book by the Marquis
De Sade, for your Sir Augustus, sir. |
Ducos: Come, Colonel. We've wasted enough time in Adrados. It was
a fool's errand in the first place.
Richard Sharpe: Fool's errand? That man's wife is held hostage, sir! What is
he to do?
Ducos: Find
another. |
|
|
