Sharpe's Christmas (pp. 11-21) Summary

Major Richard Sharpe and Sergeant-Major Patrick Harper crouch at the edge of a field trying to kill a bullock for their Christmas meal, but neither man is able to kill the animal. Their disagreement about who will perform the necessary duty is interrupted when Ensign Nicholls arrives with a summons for Sharpe from Colonel Hogan. Nicholls greatly admires both men and eagerly asks if they are going to fight. Sharpe hopes not because Christmas is only three days away and "Christmas was no time to be killing" (p. 15).

Hogan, the Peer's Chief of Intelligence, explains to Sharpe that a French garrison from the Fort at Ochagavia is rumored to try to escape to France, so Sharpe's men will cover the west road at Irati while the Spaniards cover the east road. Sharpe has spent the last ten...