"It was a bloody awful shot," Sharpe said. "My mother could lay a gun better than that." "I didn't think you had a mother," Private Garrard said. "Everyone's got a mother, Tom." "Not Sergeant Hakeswill," Garrard said, then spat a mix of dust and spittle. . . . "Hakeswill was spawned of the devil." Richard Sharpe—Soldier, hero, rogue—the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles, whose green jacket he proudly wears.