Sherlock Holmes versus Harry Flashman

 . . . “besides, this is a nautical, not a military man; he is not English, but either American or German — probably the latter, since he has certainly studied at a second-rate German university, but undoubtedly he has been to America quite lately. He is known to the police, is currently working as a ship’s steward, or some equally menial capacity at sea — for I observe that he has declined even from his modest beginnings — and will, unless I am greatly mistaken, be in Hamburg by the beginning of next week — provided he wakes up in time. More than that,” says the know-all ignoramus, “I cannot tell you from a superficial examination. Except, of course, for the obvious fact that he found his way here via Piccadilly Circus.”


Flashman and the Tiger, p.310, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, observe.

Chanced a quick look

. . . I chanced a quick look at ’em through half-closed lids — a tall, slim cove in a long coat, bare-headed and balding, and a big, hulking chap with a bulldog moustache and hard hat. They looked like a poet and a bailiff.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.309, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, poet.