Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight Summary

Chapter seven introduces General Wellington, who has a heavy heart at Sharpe's execution. He is to be hanged, though some of the Spanish think this death too quick for the murder of their Marques. Father Hacha, the Inquisitor, regrets that Sharpe must die, and also that El Matarife had to kill the Marques. He thinks the death will save Spain; the Marques's fortune will go into the Church, and Spain will again become a world power. The Spanish are too far away to see the prisoner clearly, but his long black hair and baggy white infantryman trousers blow in the wind. Though Sharpe saved Wellington's life once, the general shows no emotion. The condemned man smiles while the noose is put around his neck, though he does not die right away from the rope. An...