Sharpe’s first story as an officer takes him to the daunting fort of Gawilghur. This is also the last of his Indian adventures. Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) was never at his shining best when he had to lay siege to great fortresses, and few are greater than Gawilghur up on its vast cliff over the Deccan Plain. In the end the fortress fell to the extraordinary gallantry of some Scottish soldiers and I fear Sharpe muscles in on their achievement.
