Sharpe’s Enemy: The Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812

Sharpe’s Enemy: The Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812
Bernard Cornwell

Major Sharpe, in the bitter winter, must attempt a desperate rescue and face his most implacable enemy.Newly promoted, he is given the task of rescuing a group of well-born women, held hostage high in the mountains by a rabble of deserters. And one of the renegades is Sergeant Hakeswill, Sharpe’s bitter enemy.Sharpe has only the support of his own company and the new Rocket Troop – the last word in military incompetence – but he cannot afford to contemplate defeat. For to surrender or to fail would mean the end of the war for the Allied armies…Soldier, hero, rogue – Sharpe is the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears.

SHARPE’S

ENEMY

Richard Sharpe and the Defence

of Portugal, Christmas 1812

BERNARD CORNWELL

Copyright

This novel is a work of fiction. The incidents and some of the characters portrayed in it, while based on real historical events and figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Collins 1984

Previously published in paperback by Fontana 1985

Copyright © Rifleman Productions Ltd 1984

Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780006170136

Ebook Edition © March 2012 ISBN: 9780007346790

Version: 2017-06-07

For my daughter,

with love

‘No one is better than Bernard Cornwell in describing battles large and small, howitzer fire, cavalry charges or bayonet attacks’

Evening Standard

‘… this system is yet in its infancy … much has been accomplished in a short time and there is every reason to believe that the accuracy of the Rocket may be actually brought upon a par with that of other artillery ammunition for all the important purposes of the field service.’

COLONEL SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE, 1814.

Table of Contents

Title Page (#u1f696ec5-4df0-5c77-a0df-f8b71ab9bb79)

Dedication (#u3f3189aa-62d9-5ca8-8616-3b4b4d14391c)

Copyright (#u03e67c42-5bfa-5c13-81d6-16dc79228749)

Epigraph (#u32847dd3-4cf2-541d-83bf-19ce7d2fcdfb)

Map (#ue8d34bcd-51fd-5903-b129-4f2b8efe23d5)

Prologue (#uffcadb72-2478-5068-8829-85c60b53faf9)

Chapter One (#u56814152-6401-5b01-8233-c61a904b0846)

Chapter Two (#ue94f0ad6-2b57-5acf-ae2f-7789b0bf6bdd)

Chapter Three (#u0036edcb-e1e5-56bf-9355-d02b8ee1e530)

Chapter Four (#u79f5bd0c-00c3-5989-afa5-6ff3b8d15de2)

Chapter Five (#u8289d477-a503-5c18-adde-85e25162171c)

Chapter Six (#u20526352-e1b5-512e-855f-99f19e673a39)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)