stronghold as their own property, to destroy and violate as they
wished. This was their revenge for the horrors that the defenders had
inflicted on them, and there was undoubtedly a vast slaughter inside
Gawilghur once the victory was gained. Many of the defenders must have
escaped down the steep cliffs, but perhaps half of the seven or eight
thousand died in an orgy of revenge.
And then the place was forgotten. The Mahrattas were defeated, and
even more of India came under British rule or influence. But Sir
Arthur Wellesley was done with India, it was time to sail home and look
for advancement against the more dangerous and nearer enemy, France. It
will be four years before he sails from England to Portugal and to the
campaign that will raise him to a dukedom. Sharpe will also go home,
to a green instead of a red jacket, and he too will sail to Portugal
and march from there into France, but he has a snare or two waiting on
his path before he reaches the peninsula. So Sharpe will march
again.