title: Sharpe's fortress
author: Bernard CORNWELL
description: Chronologically, this is the third title in the series featuring British soldier Richard Sharpe
zlib_text: **Sharpe's Fortress**  
  
    
  
   **By: Bernard Cornwell**  
  
  Sharpe's Fortress is
  
  for Christine Clarke,
  
  with many thanks
  
    
  
   **CHAPTER 1**  
  
  Richard Sharpe wanted to be a good officer. He truly did. He wanted it above
  all other things, but somehow it was just too difficult, like trying to light
  a tinderbox in a rain-filled wind. Either the men disliked him, or they
  ignored him, or they were over-familiar and he was unsure how to cope with any
  of the three attitudes, while the battalion's other officers plain disapproved
  of him. You can put a racing saddle on a cart horse Captain Urquhart had said
  one night in the ragged tent which passed for the officers' mess, but that
  don't make the beast quick. He had not been talking about Sharpe, not
  directly, but all the other officers glanced at him.
  
  The battalion had stopped in the middle of nowhere. It was hot as hell and no
  wind alleviated the sodden heat. They were surrounded by tall crops that hid
  everything except the sky. A cannon fire