Wednesday 15 June 2011

Plainly must



…the man was plainly must,* doolali, afflicted of Allah, too long in the hills altogether — but one doesn’t like to say so, straight out, not to a chap who affects tartan pants and has a Khyber knife across his lap.


*Must is the madness of the rogue elephant. Doolali = insane, from Deolali Camp, inland from Bombay, where generations of British soldiers (including the editor) were received in India, and were supposedly affected by sunstroke.


Flashman and the Mountain of Light, pp.203-04, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



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