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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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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Can't have missed by much

‘The Afghans murder our people, try to make off with our wives, order us out of the country, and what does our commander do? Shoots himself in the arse – doubtless in an attempt to blow his brains out. He can’t have missed by much.’

Flashman, p.167, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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Bloody Lance

So we left Mogala, and I had collected a personal following of Afghan tribesman, and a reputation, as a result of the morning’s work. The 12 Gilzais and Ilderim were the best things I found in Afghanistan, and the nickname 'Bloody Lance', which Sher Afzul conferred, did me no harm either.

Flashman, p.105, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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A first rate fellow

This I will say for the Afghan – he is a treacherous, evil brute when he wants to be, but while he is your friend he is a first rate fellow. The point is, you must judge to the second when he is going to cease to be friendly… Looking back, though, I can say I probably got on better with the Afghans than most Britons do. I imagine Tom Hughes would have said that in many respects of character I resembled them, and I wouldn’t deny it.

Flashman, p.99, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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Good men

'Could we not hold Kabul?' I asked. 'Surely with a force of five thousand it should be possible against undisciplined savages.'

'These savages are good men,' says he [Broadfoot]. 'Better shots than we are, for one thing.'



Flashman, p.87, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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A good enough army

It was a good enough army, part Queen’s troops, part Company’s, with British regiments as well as native ones, but it was having its work cut out trying to keep the tribes in order, for apart from Dost’s supporters there were scores of little petty chiefs and tyrants who lost no opportunity of causing trouble in the unsettled times and the usual Afghan pasttimes of blood-feud, robbery and murder-for-fun were going ahead full steam.



Flashman, p.80, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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