Sharpe's Challenge Page #4

will kill General Burroughs' daughter.

You see, gentlemen? As I thought.

Our best course lies in caution.

The longer we leave him unchallenged,

the stronger he gets.

Khande Rao has got

over 3,000 troops at Ferraghur.

Another month, it could be double that.

No matter their strength,

a bandit rabble in want of discipline will never

stand against a well-trained European army.

That must be why they have a bunch

of Frenchmen teaching them tactics, then,

under the command of a Colonel Gudin.

For a horse dealer, Mr Harper,

you seem remarkable well-informed.

Well, sir, you see,

a horse dealer picks up more round and about

than just sh*t on his boots, sir.

Khande Rao is not just marshalling

his troops up there to look good.

-You must move now.

-I have said!

Damn it, sir, don't push me.

We will wait

until reinforcements and new orders

are arrived from Agra.

There is no more to say.

Get that damn thing out of here.

What do you reckon then, Pat?

-This Khande Rao, can we take him?

-Well, he has a reputation of being a real monster.

If he is a monster, Mr Harper,

then he's one of British making.

How is that, Captain?

The Company have only maintained the peace here

by keeping the princes at each other's throats.

Khande Rao's father...

(SCOFFS)

...he feared his neighbours

more than he hated the British.

And so it was your country

that kept him supplied with arms.

That sounds just like the English,

getting someone else to do its dirty work.

The son is not the father, however.

Khande Rao wants you out of our country

once and for all.

It is a view with which I cannot say

I do not have some sympathy.

So why are you fighting with us?

Khande Rao is a Maratha, Colonel,

a sworn enemy of my blood.

And that makes you my enemy's enemy.

And, therefore, a necessary evil.

Good day to you, both.

I don't think I like the sound of that,

a necessary evil.

-Have we ever been else?

-Hmm.

And there was me thinking

we were always on the side of the angels.

What keeps my brother from sleep?

I dreamt of our father.

He was angry with me.

I don't know why that should be so.

I shall ask the Brahmin what it means.

I try to be like him in all things.

To find his courage within me, that I may see

my people safely through these days.

No one doubts your courage, my lord,

nor your wisdom.

But surely a great prince is also merciful.

I speak of the white general's daughter.

My brother, what harm has she done?

Can it be right

to keep her locked alone in the darkness?

You think the British would treat you any better?

Then surely it becomes us to prove that

it is they who are the barbarians in this land.

Release her to the guest quarters

here in the palace. I will stand surety.

Do this kindness for a sister who loves you.

-I will ask Madhuvanthi.

-Ask Madhuvanthi? That witch!

-You are the Rajah of Ferraghur.

-And she is Regent!

Tell me, when the time comes

to surrender such power,

do you imagine she will do so gracefully

and rest content?

-She and Dodd...

-Do not task me, Lalima.

General Dodd has served us faithfully well

these past years.

It was our father's wish

that he remain in our service

and I will not go against that wish.

As my brother pleases.

You know what they are calling him?

In the town and in the fort.

The white Rajah. The white Rajah.

Take care, my little brother.

Take care.

Christ, God, Sharpe! You heard his message.

Attack Ferraghur

and he kills General Burroughs' daughter.

Not if I can get her out.

Get her out? What fresh madness is this?

You want to lead a forlorn hope against Ferraghur,

is that it?

Have half my men killed on the walls,

then watch Celia Burroughs have her head nailed?

If Captain Singh and his lancers help me,

Mr Harper and I should prove sufficient to the job.

You and Harper, eh?

Oh, God knows...

I don't mind if you do die, Sharpe.

It's long past your time, ain't it?

If that's permission...

Oh, by all means. Go and die, Sharpe.

Go and die.

Mademoiselle, it is His Highness' wish

that you should be brought

to the guest quarters at the palace.

There you may bathe

and will be provided with fresh clothing.

I am well enough, sir.

It is not a request.

I have been a very poor father.

The effort of bringing Celia into the world

took my dear wife from me, do you see?

I may not always...

have concealed my resentment.

I'm sure that's not the case, sir.

A son could have followed me into the army...

but a daughter...

I placed career

before the duty a father owes to his child.

It's only now as...

the shadows lengthen and I realise,

like the base Indian,

the value of that which I squandered.

Bring her back for me, Colonel.

-Are we ready, Pat?

-As we'll ever be.

Godspeed, then, to you both.

-I trust your new quarters are more to your liking.

-General Dodd!

I hardly think it proper for you to be alone

in a woman's quarters.

Fortunately, madam,

there lies a region in which I am well-travelled.

-What is it you want?

-Merely to ask after your comfort.

To the best of my knowledge, sir,

you were once an officer in the British Army.

It was the East India Company in which I served.

But let's not split hairs over such trifling matters.

Your point?

My point, sir, is that if any vestige

of gentlemanly conduct

you must have absorbed

while in British Company remains,

I would urge you to act upon it.

Alas, madam, these past years,

I find I'm moved by impulses far more...

sub-equatorial.

If I understood you aright

the other evening, General,

you made a gift of me to the Rajah.

-What of it?

-Nothing.

I am merely imagining his disappointment

if he were to find that his gift

had already been unwrapped.

Then you better wish a health unto His Highness

for he'll take more care in its opening than I will.

All right, I reckon this is about far enough, Pat.

Turn your coat round.

If Khande Rao's men see red coats,

they'll shoot before they ask questions.

Wouldn't want that to happen now, would we?

Not with these jetti fellows to look forward to.

She must be some looker, that's all I can say.

-All the trouble we're going to.

-Who must?

-The general's daughter.

-Saving Celia Burroughs ain't a mission, Pat.

We're going to Ferraghur to stop a rebellion.

You know as well as me

once the monsoon comes, that's it.

Khande Rao can afford

to sit tight in his fort and watch

while Simmerson's men starve for lack of supplies.

Then, when he's got them on the run,

when they're retreating,

he'll get his Pindari to carry them

all across the Plains, you know that.

So wait a minute. You and me,

we're gonna stop a rebellion, just the two of us?

Well, I don't see no bugger else.

Yeah... That...

That sounds just about right,

just as long as you let me know.

Shh!

What do you want?

I came to tell you I am sorry

you have been dealt with this way.

Keep your apology, madame. It's nothing to me.

We did not ask you British to our country.

And still you came.

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