Earl of Uxbridge's staff, and is cornered alone in the woods by Sharpe. Rossendale aims a pistol at Sharpe, but lacks the nerve to pull the trigger, and Sharpe disarms him easily. Sharpe says Rossendale is welcome to Jane, but he makes Rossendale write a promissory note for his stolen money. Sharpe mockingly drops a length of rope into Rossendale's lap, saying that Rossendale has "bought" Jane according to an old English custom. The Fourth Day: 18 June 1815 Wellington deploys his forces on the ridge south of Waterloo, trusting Prussian commander Field Marshal Blücher's assurance he will march to his aid if he makes a stand. Unknown to him, General Gneisenau, Blücher's chief of staff, does not trust Wellington and secretly mismanages the Prussians' march to slow it down as much as possible. The Prince of Orange posts Sharpe on the British right to watch for a French flanking attack. Sharpe, however, is certain that Napoleon is so confident of victory that he will instead launch a frontal attack in overwhelming force. Although both armies assemble well before dawn, Napoleon does not commence his attack until close to 11:00 a.m. Sharpe and Harper, watching the French advance, are drawn into the defence of Hougoumont, and witness Colonel Macdonell's heroic closing of the gates after some Frenchmen get in. During a lull in the fighting, Sharpe offers his assistance, and Macdonell asks him to fetch a wagonload of ammunition. The Prince of Orange is humiliated further when, again, the Dutch-Belgian troops under his command refuse to advance. Believing that the farm of La Haye Sainte is about to fall to the enemy, the Prince quickly orders a Hanoverian regiment to advance in line, again ignoring one of his officers' warning that he spotted some French cavalry nearby. Again, the allied infantry are slaughtered. With Hogoumont under siege on Wellington's right, Napoleon believes (incorrectly) that Wellington will weaken his line to deploy reinforcements there, so he orders D'Erlon's infantry corps to assault the British center. Rossendale, desperate to regain his honor in battle after being humiliated by Sharpe, joins the charge of the British heavy cavalry in sweeping D'Erlon's infantry from the ridge. Rossendale fights bravely, but is swept along with the ill-disciplined English cavalry as they cross the field to the French artillery park. By the time French lancers appear, the Englishmen's horses are exhausted, and they are easily slaughtered.