Sharpe's Triumph

India, 1803. Sergeant Sharpe survives a massacre at an East India Company fort by playing dead and sees the man behind it: Lieutenant William Dodd, who has deserted to serve the Marathas. Colonel McCandless takes Sharpe after him to Wellesley's army. At Ahmednuggur, Sharpe rescues Frenchwoman Simone Joubert. In the Maratha camp, Colonel Pohlmann tries to recruit him, and Hakeswill shows up with a bogus arrest warrant that McCandless voids. At Assaye, the British win a costly battle against a far bigger army. Wellesley is unhorsed, and Sharpe saves him. Hakeswill kills McCandless in the fighting. Dodd escapes, and Wellesley makes Sharpe an ensign on the spot. Now Hakeswill has to call him sir.

1. ChangeDodd gets an extra decade

   The fort massacre, with Sharpe playing dead, opens Sharpe's Challenge as a flashback to 1803. On TV, the showdown with Dodd is pushed to 1817.

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2. Behind the scenesOne letter short

   Colonel McCandless smudges the arrest warrant so it reads 'Sharp' instead of 'Sharpe,' which lets him refuse it.

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3. ReferencePaid in emeralds

   Sharpe pays for McCandless's horse with one of the emeralds he took from Tipu Sultan's body in the previous book.

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