more elegantly.
'Do you know what loyalty is?'
Before Sharpe could answer the tent flaps were pushed aside and Captain Campbell ducked out into the sunlight.
'Wasn't expecting you, Sharpe! ' he said genially, holding out his hand.
Sharpe shook hands.
'How are you, sir?'
«Busy,» Campbell said.
'You don't have to go in if you don't want.'
'He does, ' Torrance said.
Sharpe shrugged.
'Might as well, ' he said, then ducked into the tent's yellow light as Campbell pulled back the flap.
The General was in his shirtsleeves, sitting behind a table that was covered with Major Blackiston's sketches of the land bridge to Gawilghur. Blackiston was beside him, travel-stained and tired, while an irascible-looking major of the Royal Engineers stood two paces behind the table. If the General was surprised to see Sharpe he showed no sign of it, but instead looked back to the drawings.
'How wide is the approach?' he asked.
'At its narrowest, sir, about fifty feet.' Blackiston tapped one of the sketches.
'It's wide enough for most of the approach, two or three hundred yards, but just here there's a tank and it squeezes the path cruelly. A ravine to the left, a tank to the right.'
'Fall to your death on one side, ' the General said, 'and drown on the other. And doubtless the fifty feet between is covered by their guns?'
'Smothered, sir. Must be twenty heavy cannon looking down the throat of the approach, and God knows how much smaller metal.
Plenty.'
Wellesley removed the inkwells that had been serving as weights so that the drawings rolled up with a snap.
'Not much choice, though, is there?' he asked.
'None, sir.'
Wellesley looked up suddenly, his eyes seeming very blue in the tent's half light.
'The supply train is twelve hours late, Captain. Why?'
He spoke quietly, but even Sharpe felt a shiver go through him.
Torrance, his cocked hat held beneath his left arm, was sweating.
'I. I.. ' he said, too nervous to speak properly, but then he took a deep breath.
'I was ill, sir, and unable to supervise properly, and my clerk failed to issue the chitties It was a most regrettable occurrence, sir, and I can assure you it will not happen again.'
The General stared at Torrance in silence for a few seconds.
'Colonel Wallace gave you Ensign Sharpe as an assistant? Did Sharpe also fail to obey your orders?'
'I had sent Mister Sharpe ahead, sir, ' Torrance said. The sweat was now pouring down his face and dripping from his chin.
'So why did the clerk fail in his duties?'
'Treachery, sir, ' Torrance said.
The answer surprised Wellesley, as it was meant to. He tapped his pencil on the table's edge.
'Treachery?' he asked in a low voice.
'It seemed the clerk was in league with a merchant, sir, and had been selling him supplies. And this morning, sir, when he should have been issuing the chitties he was employed on his own business.'
'And you were too ill to detect his treachery?'
'Yes, sir, ' Torrance said almost pleadingly.
'At first, sir, yes, sir.'
Wellesley gazed at Torrance for a few silent seconds, and the Captain had the uncomfortable feeling that the blue eyes saw right into his soul.
'So where is this treacherous clerk now, Captain?' Wellesley asked at last.
'We hanged him, sir, ' Torrance said and Sharpe, who had not heard of Dilip's death, stared at him in astonishment.
The General slapped the table, making Torrance jump in alarm.
'You seem very fond of hanging, Captain Torrance?'
'A necessary remedy for theft, sir, as you have made plain.'
'I, sir? I?' The General's voice, when he became angry, did not become louder, but more precise and, therefore, more chilling.
'The general order mandating summary death by hanging for thievery, Captain, applies to men in uniform. King's and Company men only. It does not apply to civilians. Does the dead man have family?'
'No, sir, ' Torrance said. He did not really know the answer, but decided it was better to say no than to prevaricate.
'If he does, Captain, ' Wellesley said softly, 'and if they complain, then I shall have no choice but to put you on trial, and depend upon it, sir, that trial will be in the civilian courts.'
'I apologize, sir, ' Torrance said stiffly, 'for my over-zealousness.'
The General stayed silent for a few seconds.
'Supplies were missing, ' he said after a while.
'Yes, sir, ' Torrance agreed weakly.
'Yet you never reported the thefts?' Wellesley said.
'I did not believe you wished to be troubled by every mishap, sir, ' Torrance said.
«Mishap!» Wellesley snapped.
'Muskets are stolen, and you call that a mishap? Such mishaps, Captain Torrance, lose wars. In future you will inform my staff when such depredations are made.' He stared at
Torrance for a few seconds, then looked at Sharpe.
'Colonel Huddlestone tells me it was you, Sharpe, who discovered the missing supplies?'
'All but the muskets, sir. They're still missing.'
'How did you know where to look?'
'Captain Torrance's clerk told me where to buy supplies, sir.' Sharpe shrugged.
'I guessed they were the missing items, sir.'
Wellesley grunted. Sharpe's answer appeared to confirm Torrance's accusations, and the Captain gave Sharpe a grateful glance. Wellesley saw the glance and rapped the table, demanding Torrance's attention.
'It is a pity, Captain, that we could not have questioned the merchant before you so summarily executed him. May I presume you did interrogate the clerk?'
'My sergeant did, sir, and the wretch confessed to having sold items to Naig.' Torrance blushed as he told the lie, but it was so hot in the tent and he was sweating so heavily that the blush went unnoticed.
'Your sergeant?' Wellesley asked.
'You mean your havildar?'
'Sergeant, sir, ' Torrance said.
'I inherited him from Captain Mackay, sir. Sergeant Hakeswill.'
«Hakeswill!» the General said in astonishment.
'What's he still doing here? He should be back with his regiment!»
'He stayed on, sir, ' Torrance said, 'with two of his men. His other two died, sir, fever. And he had no alternative orders, sir, and he was too useful to let go, sir.'
«Useful!» Wellesley said. He had been the commanding officer of the 33rd, Hakeswill's regiment, and he knew the Sergeant well. He shook his head.
'If you find him useful, Torrance, then he can stay till Gawilghur's fallen. But then he returns to his regiment. You'll make sure of that, Campbell?'
'Yes, sir, ' the aide said.
