An enemy caught

From above it looked like the discharge from an overturned ant-hill spilling across the plain towards an enemy caught unprepared by the sheer speed of the attack.
       That was when Bob Napier earned his peerage.



Flashman on the March, p.238, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.


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Warriors from their cradle

Speedy had said that of all the countless Galla tribes, the Wollos were the pick, and I could believe him and thank God they were Theodore’s sworn enemies, for if they’d opposed us I doubt if one of Napier’s army would ever have got back to the coast. They were warriors from their cradles, expert fighters, splendid horseman, and would rather cut throats than eat dinner.


Flashman on the March, p.145, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.


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Favours and enemies

…gratitude’s a funny thing; do a favour, and often as not you’ve made an enemy, or at best a grudging friend. Folk hate to feel obliged.

Flashman and the Dragon, p.257, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.


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Friend and enemy

If I hadn’t pleased Spotted Tail that day, by playing with the kid . . . who knows? I might have been spared a heap of trouble—or I might be dead by now. You can never tell where small boys are concerned; they may grow up to be your best friend—and your worst enemy.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.203, Pan Books edition, 1983.

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A comforting thought

…the advantage to being a wicked bastard is that everyone pesters the Lord on your behalf; if volume of prayers from my saintly enemies means anything, I’ll be saved when the Archbishop of Canterbury is damned. It’s a comforting thought.

Flashman at the Charge, p.150, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Subtle naval tactics

Now, in my experience there is only one way to fight a ship, and that is to get below, on the side opposite to the enemy and find a snug spot behind a stout bulkhead.

Flash For Freedom!, p.110, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

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Young and raw

When you are young and raw and on the brink of adventure, you set great store by having your side-arms just right, because you are full of romantic notions of how you will use them. Even I felt a thrill when I first handled a sabre at practice with the 11th Light Dragoons, and imagined myself pinking and mowing down hordes of ferocious but obligingly futile enemies. But when you’ve seen a sabre cut to the bone, and limbs mangled by bullets, you come out of your daydream pretty sharp.

Royal Flash, pp.67 - 68, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Insults of an enemy

‘The insults of an enemy are a tribute to the brave,’ laughs he.

Flashman, p.181, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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