High yet husky

Ko Dali’s daughter spoke for the first time, and I was surprised how high and yet husky her voice was – the kind that makes you think of French satin sofas, with the blinds down and purple wall-paper.

Flashman at the Charge, p.247, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Damned beyond doubt

I don’t hold with oaths, much, and I’m not by nature, a truthful man, but on the three occasions that I’ve sworn blood brotherhood it has seemed a more solemn thing than swearing on the Bible. Arnold was right; I’m damned beyond a doubt.

Flashman at the Charge, p.244, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Demon kings and fools

I suppose he was a bit of a demon king, with his forked beard and skull-lock, and that rare thing in Central Asia, which they say is a legacy of Alexander’s Greek mercenaries – the bright blue eyes of the European. And he had the happiest smile, I think, that ever I saw on a human face. You only had to see it to understand why the Syr Daria tribes carried on their hopeless struggle against the Russians; fools will always follow the Yakub Begs of this world.

Flashman at the Charge, p.242, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Couldn't be talking about Flashman

‘Between warriors let a word of thanks be like a heart-beat – a small thing, hardly heard, but it suffices,’ says he, and then grinned sheepishly. ‘what do I say? The truth is, we all owe our chief debt to that wild witch, Ko Dali’s daughter. She whom they call the Silk One.

Flashman at the Charge, p.238, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Trees must fall

‘To build the house, trees must fall,’ says Kutebar complacently. I agreed with him entirely, mind you.

Flashman at the Charge, p.232, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Personal habits

…I fell the last ten feet, landing on top of the man beneath, who gave a brief commentary on my parents, future, and personal habits as only a Hillman can…

Flashman at the Charge, p.231, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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A nice dark corner

Old dungeon-fighters like myself – and I’ve had a wealth of experience, from the vaults of Jotunberg, where I was sabre to sabre with Starnberg, to that Afghan prison where I let dear old Hudson take the strain – know that the thing to do on these occasions is find a nice dark corner and crawl into it.

Flashman at the Charge, p.227, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Sky-blue wolves

‘Bhisti-sawad!* The sky-blue wolves are in the fold!’

*Heavenly!

Flashman at the Charge, p.225, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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The sudden raid

…these fellows were much the same as Afghans, and I knew their way of working. The sudden raid, the surprise attack, the mad hacking melee (I shuddered at the recollection), and then up and away before civilized troops have rubbed the sleep from their eyes.

Flashman at the Charge, p.224, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Genial mountain scoundrels

A tough customer, by the looks of him; one of those genial mountain scoundrels who’ll tell you merry stories while he stabs you in the guts just for the fun of hearing his knife-hilt bells jingle.

Flashman at the Charge, p.222, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Cryptic sayings

‘Put no faith in women, and as much in the Chinese,’ says Kutebar cryptically.

Flashman at the Charge, p.221, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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The loveliest of all languages

If I hadn’t served long in Afghanistan, and learned the speech and ways of the Central Asian tribes, I suppose I’d have imagined that I was in a cell with a couple of madmen. But I knew this trick that they have of reviling those they respect most, in banter, of their love of irony and formal imagery, which is strong in Pushtu and even stronger in Persian, the loveliest of all languages.

Flashman at the Charge, p.221, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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As the wild sheep defecate

‘You see?’ says Yakub Beg, craning his neck and trying to grin. ‘A dotard, flown with dreams. A badawai zhazh-kayan* who talks as the wild sheep defecate, at random, everywhere. When you and I go hither , Flashman bahadur, we shall leave him, and even the Ruskis will take pity on such a dried-up husk, and employ him to clean their privies –those of the common soldiers, you understand, not the officers.’

*A wild babbler

Flashman at the Charge, pp.220-21, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Thoughts of home

It’s a strange thing, to come through hundreds of miles of wilderness, from a foreign land and moving in the wrong direction, and suddenly find yourself sniffing the air and thinking, ‘home’. If you’re British, and have soldiered in India, you’ll understand what I mean.

Flashman at the Charge, p.214, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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