Press-ganged

. . . I knew dam’ well it would run around Horse Guards and the clubs like wildfire in the morning . . . 
     “I say — you know Chinese Gordon's gone to the Sudan! Fact — and taken Flashman with him! Met him quite by chance at the station, told Wolseley and Cambridge he must have him along, wouldn’t dream of facing the Mahdi without him, They gave him his way, of course but wondered what Flashman, who’s retired, would think of being press-ganged at a moment’s notice. D’you what Flash Harry said, cool as you please? ‘Well, the least you can do, Gordon, is pay for my blasted ticket!’”


Flashman and the Tiger, pp.197-8, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, ticket.

Contemplating the infinite

Hell of a place the Sudan, all rock and sand and thorn and the most monstorous savages in creation; Charley Gordon, my China acquaintance, had governed it in the 70s, and spent most of his time poring over the scriptures and chasing slavers before retiring to Palestine to watch rocks and contemplate the infinite.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.48, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hell.