The Light Company eventually realise that Sharpe and Harper are missing and Major Hogan is alerted. A search of the hospital finds Harper still unconscious, but Sharpe cannot be found. When his discarded trousers are found, it is believed that he was mistaken for a dead French soldier and buried in a mass grave. In fact, he has been taken to the death ward run by Sergeant Connolley in the dank basement. Sharpe, unrecognised, drifts in and out of consciousness, but refuses to die from a wound that is almost always fatal. Hogan and Harper resume the search. They finally find Sharpe, but he is barely clinging to life. While the army moves on, Harper and Isabella (the peasant girl Harper rescued in the Battle of Badajoz) minister to Sharpe. In the meantime, Hogan assigns Lord Spears and some men to discreetly guard El Mirador.