"When I have to, " Teresa said.

"Against the French, Ma'am?" Hickey suggested.

"Who the hell else?" Sharpe growled.

"Against all men who are rude, " Teresa said, dazzling Hickey with a smile.

"But I have fought the French, Mister Hickey, since the day they killed my family."

"Oh, my Lord, " Hickey said. Such things did not happen in Danbury, Essex, where his family farmed three hundred placid acres.

"And I am at San Miguel to fight them again, " Teresa said.

"No French here, Ma'am, " Major Tubbs said happily. "Not a frog within hopping distance."

"And if one does come within hopping distance, " Teresa said, "then my men will see them coming. We are your cavalry scouts."

"And glad we are to have you, Ma'am, " Tubbs said gallantly.

John MacKeon, who until now had stayed silent, suddenly looked at Sharpe, and the fierceness of the Scotsman's gaze was so intense that it brought an awkward silence to the cramped table. "You no remember me?" He said to Sharpe.

Sharpe looked at the craggy face with its thick eyebrows and deep-set eyes. "Should I, Mister MacKeon?"

"I was with you, Sharpe, when you crossed the wall at Gawilghur."

"Then I should remember you, " Sharpe said.

"Ah, no, " MacKeon said dismissively. "I was just another soldier. One of Campbell's men in the 96th, ye remember them?"

Shape nodded. "I remember them. I remember Captain Campbell too."

"There's a laddie who's done well for himself, " MacKeon said, "and no more than he's deserved, I dare say. It was a great day's work ye both did."

"We all did it, " Sharpe said.

"But you were first across the wall, man. I remember seeing you climb and I thought to myself, there's a dead man if ever I did see one!»