“You should think about selling me your skills, Sharpe.”
“Me, sir?” Sharpe answered lightly.
“You, Sergeant Sharpe,” Pohlmann said forcibly, and the Hanoverian twisted in his seat to stare at Sharpe.
“That’s why I invited you this afternoon. I need European officers, Sharpe, and any man as young as you who becomes a sergeant must have a rare ability. I am offering you rank and riches, Sharpe. Look at me! Ten years ago I was a sergeant like you, now I ride to war on an elephant, need two more to carry my gold and have three dozen women competing to sharpen my sword. Have you ever heard of George Thomas?”
“No, sir.”
“An Irishman, Sergeant, and not even a soldier! George was an illiterate seaman out of the gutters of Dublin, and before he drank himself to death, poor man, he’d become the Begum Somroo’s general. I think he was her lover too, but that ain’t any distinction with that particular lady, but before he died George needed a whole herd of elephants to haul his gold about. And why? Because the Indian princes, Sergeant, need our skills. Equip yourself with a good European and you win your wars. I captured seventy-two guns at the battle of Malpura and I demanded the weight of one of those guns in pure gold as my reward. I got it, too. In ten years you could be as rich as you want, rich as Benoit de Boigne. You must have heard of him?”
“No, sir.”
“He was a Savoyard, Sergeant, and in just four years he made a hundred thousand pounds and then he went off home and married a seventeen-year-old girl fresh from her father’s castle. In only four years!
From being a captain in Savoy’s army to being governor of half Scindia’s territory. There’s a fortune to be made here and rank and birth don’t come into it. Only ability counts. Nothing but ability.” Pohlmann paused, his eyes on Sharpe.
“I’ll make you a lieutenant tomorrow, Sergeant, and you can fight in my compoo, and if you’re any damn good then you’ll be a captain by month’s end.” Sharpe looked at the Hanoverian, but said nothing. Pohlmann smiled.
“What are your chances of getting a commission in the British army?”
Sharpe grinned.
“No chance, sir.”
“So? I offer you rank, wealth and as many bibb is as you can handle.”
“Is that why Mister Dodd deserted, sir?”
Pohlmann smiled.
“Major Dodd deserted, Sharpe, because he faces execution for murder, and because he’s sensible, and because he wants my job. Not that he’ll admit to that.” The Hanoverian twisted in the howdah.
“Major Dodd!” he shouted.
The Major urged his awkward horse to the elephant’s side and looked up into the howdah.
“Sir?”
“Sergeant Sharpe wants to know why you joined us.”
Dodd gave Sharpe a suspicious look, but then shrugged. ‘I ran because there’s no future in the Company,” he said.
“I was a lieutenant for twenty-two years, Sergeant, twenty-two years! It don’t matter to the Company how good a soldier you are, you have to wait your turn, and all the while I watched wealthy young fools buying themselves majorities in the King’s ranks and I had to bow and scrape to the useless bastards. Yes, sir, no, sir, three bloody bags full, sir, and can I carry your bags, sir, and wipe your arse, sir.” Dodd had been getting angrier and angrier as he spoke, but now made an effort to control himself.
“I couldn’t join the King’s army, Sergeant, because my father runs a grist mill in Suffolk and there ain’t no money to buy a King’s commission. That meant I was only fit for the Company, and King’s officers treat Company men like dirt. I can outfight twenty of the bastards, but ability don’t count in the Company. Keep your nose clean, wait your turn, then die for the shareholders when the Court of Directors tells you.” He was becoming angry again.
“That’s why,” he finished curtly.
“And you, Sergeant?” Pohlmann asked.
“What opportunities will the army offer you?”
“Don’t know, sir.”
“You do know,” Pohlmann said, ‘you do know.” The elephant had stopped and the Hanoverian now pointed ahead and Sharpe saw that they had come to the edge of a wood, and a half-mile away was a great city with walls like those the Scots had climbed at Ahmednuggur.