'And does rumor extend to the South Essex?

Hogan shook his head; he was attached to Wellington's staff and knew what was being planned. 'No, but I was hoping I could persuade your Colonel to lend me your Company.

'Mine? Sharpe was pleased. 'Why?

'Not for much. I don't want you lads in the breach, but the Engineers are short-handed, as ever, and there's a heap of stuff to be carried up the glacis. Would you be happy?

'Of course. Sharpe wondered whether to tell Hogan of his wish that he had gone with the Forlorn Hope, but he knew that the Irish Engineer would think he was mad, so he said nothing. Instead he lent Hogan his telescope and waited silently as the Engineer stared at the breach. Hogan grunted. 'It's practical.

'You're sure?" Sharpe took the glass back, his fingers instinctively feeling for the inlet brass plate; 'In Gratitude. AW. 23 September 1803 .

'We're never sure. But I can't see it getting any better. The Engineers had the job of pronouncing when a breach was 'practical', when, in their judgment, the rubble slope could be climbed by the attacking infantry. Sharpe looked at the small, middle-aged Major.

'You don't sound very happy.

'Of course not. No one likes a siege. Hogan was trying, like Sharpe earlier, to imagine what horrors the French had prepared in the breach. A siege, in theory, was the most scientific of all fighting. The attackers battered holes in the defence and both sides knew when the breaches were practical, but the advantage was all with the defenders. They knew where the main attack was coming, when, and roughly how many men could be fed into the breach. There the science stopped. There was great skill needed to site the batteries, in sapping forward, but once the science of the Engineers had opened up the breach, it was left to the infantry to climb the defences and die on the rubble. The siege guns did what they could. They would fire till the last moment, as they were firing now, but soon the bayonets would take over and only raw anger would take the attackers through the prepared horror. Sharpe felt again the fear of going into a breach.