So damned military

      “I bumped into the sergeant of the guard, accidental-a-purpose. A waxed-moustached old turnip-head who's so damned military he probably rides his wife by the numbers — almost ruptured himself comin’ to attention when I happened by.”


Flashman and the Tiger, p.123, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


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Fit to ride

Their cavalry . . . well, it was fit to ride over Napoleon.



Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.59, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



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Just nuts to them

… the Cossacks were free, independent tribesmen; they had land, and paid little tax, had their own tribal laws, drank themselves stupid, and served the Tsar from childhood till they were fifty because they loved to ride and fight and loot – and they liked nothing better than to use their nagaikas on the serfs, which was just nuts to them.

Flashman at the Charge, p.147, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,Cossacks.

Farewell Elphy Bey

‘Flashman,’ says he [Elphinstone], gathering his cloak around him and pulling his woollen cap over his head, ‘I am leaving you for only a little time, but in these desperate days it is not wise to count too far ahead. I trust I find you well enough in a day or two, my boy. God bless you.

And god rot you, you old fool, I thought; you won’t find me in a day or two unless you can ride a damned sight faster than I think you can.

Flashman, pp.199 - 200, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,William Elphinstone, Elphy Bey.