Chapters 10, 11, and 12 Summary

After releasing Killick and the American sailors, Sharpe leads his two companies of riflemen inland toward Bordeaux. They march for one day and then overnight in the open. Sharpe's head wound bothers him but is not incapacitating. They come to the tiny town of Facture and cross a toll-bridge over the River Leyre. Sharpe is much amused by the toll-keeper's insistence that he pay the toll. He crosses the bridge and scouts the area and selects a suitable ambush site. He is also joined by Captain of Marines Palmer with a company of Marines. Palmer is ostensibly searching for Killick, but he instead wisely decides that traipsing through enemy territory on a fool's errand is pointless. Instead he attaches his command to Sharpe, having learned that the infantry Major knows a thing or two about land warfare. The ambush site is...