Quick recap
May 1812. General Hill sends Major Sharpe to assess the defenses of the pontoon bridge at Almaraz, on the Tagus, which links two French armies in Spain. Sharpe takes 15 riflemen, Harper among them, and artillery lieutenant Love. A partisan called El Héroe is supposed to help in exchange for gold and rifles, but his band fires on them, and Sharpe suspects he's working for the French. Hill's plan leaks, and he has to escalade Fort Napoleon with ladders that are too short. Sharpe finds a spot where one ladder nearly reaches and is first up the wall. The fort falls, Love shells the other one with captured guns, and the bridge is destroyed. Teresa finds El Héroe hiding in a bread oven and kills him in a duel.
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