Sharpe's Christmas p. 31-38 Summary

Luckily, Gudin is not troubled by a single partisan, but his bad luck prevails with delays caused by a horse with a broken leg and a wrong turn. Caillou fumes at the delay, but Gudin ignores him; they will be safe in France in three days as long as no British troops wait at the frontier. When the second wagon carrying luggage breaks after dawn, they are forced to abandon the wagon with their few possessions and Gudin leaves his cherished books behind, rescuing only his diaries including the two volumes he wrote in India. He often thinks of India and regrets leaving because he misses his youthful optimism; also, he possessed a future then but none now. Though he sometimes blames a young Englishman he liked when feeling sorry for himself, since Sharpe caused his first...