The South Essex Regiment

Sharpe's military unit is the South Essex Regiment. The regiment is composed of two battalions—the first battalion is a combat battalion deployed to Spain; the second battalion is a recruiting and training battalion in England. The novel's primary narrative arc concerns Sharpe's ultimately successful attempts to discover why the second battalion is not sending recruits to the first battalion.

Maggie's Pistol

Sharpe visits Maggie Joyce in a London rookery and gives her a large amount of treasure. She notices he is being tailed by presumed assassins and sends a messenger to him to raise the alarm. The messenger also delivers one of Maggie's pistols to Sharpe who uses it to kill the assassins. Maggie's pistol is a symbol of her extensive power in the slums of London and arrives, for Sharpe, in the nick of time.

Chelmsford Depot

The South Essex's Second...