Epilogue Summary

When Hogan asks Sharpe about Almeida, Richard basically tells him nothing, just that they got the gold. Sharpe does ask which was more important, the gold or Almeida and Hogan says definitely the gold. The Lines of Torres Vedras are being built and without the gold to pay for the equipment and the workers, the work had come to a standstill. These lines are basically 3 long hill fortifications that run from the Atlantic to the Tagus, with hundreds of guns on top in small stone buildings aimed at the area where Massena must cross to invade Lisbon. This will stop his advance and his troops will starve if they remain there because it is not possible to go around as the British Navy waits in the peninsula. The war is not lost.

Hogan asks about Teresa and Sharpe tells him about her and...