Royal Flash fp-2

by George MacDonald Fraser

  But she was important in my life in another way—she had been the means of my meeting the splendid Otto. You could say that it was through her that the mischief was born between him and me, and our enmity shaped his future, and the world's.

  Nothing might have come of it, though, had I not run into him again, by pure chance, a month or so later. It was at Tom Perceval's place in Leicestershire, where I joined a party to see Nick Ward[7] fight some local pug, and to do a little hunting in Tom's coverts. Young Conyngham,[8] who was a fool of a gambler, was there, and old Jack Gully, who had once been Champion of England and was now a rich ironmaster and retired from the House of Commons as well; there were about a dozen others whom I've forgotten, and Speedicut, too—when I'd told him how I'd spent the night of his arrest, he just roared with laughter and tried "Flashy's luck! Well, only the brave deserve the fair!" And be insisted on telling everyone how it had happened, himself lying in a dirty cell full of drunkards while I was bumping a beauty.

  Most of the company were at Tom's place when I arrived, and when he met me in the hall he told me:

  "They're all old acquaintances but one, a foreigner that I can't get rid of, damn him. Friend of my uncle's, and wants to see something of our rustic ways while he's here. Trouble is, he's full of bounce, and some of the fellows are rather sick of it already."

  It meant nothing until I went into the gunroom with him, where the boys were cheering up the cold night with punch and a roaring fire, and who should be there, very formal in long coat and trousers among all the buffs and boots, but Otto. He stiffened at the sight of me, and I brought up short.

  The fellows gave a hurrah when I came in, and thrust punch and cheroots at me, while Tom did his duty by the stranger.

  "Baron," says he-the brute has a title, thinks I— "permit me to present Captain Flashman. Flash, this is Baron Otto von … er, dammit… von Schornhausen, ain't it? Can't get my confounded tongue round it."

  "Schonhausen," says Otto, bowing stiffly with his eyes on mine. "But that is, in fact, the name of my estate, if you will pardon my correction. My family name is Bismarck."[9]

  It's an old man's fancy, no doubt, but it seemed to me that he said it in a way that told you you would hear it again. It meant nothing to me, of course, at the time, but I was sure that it was going to. And again I felt that prickle of fear up my back; the cold grey eyes, the splendid build and features, the superb arrogance of the man, all combined to awe me. If you're morally as soft as butter, as I am, with a good streak of the toad-eater in you, there's no doing anything with people like Bismarck. You can have all the fame that I had then, and the good looks and the inches and the swagger—and I had those, too—but you know you're dirt to him. If you have to tangle with him, as the Americans say, you know you'll have to get drunk first; I was sober, so I toadied.

  "Honoured to make your acquaintance, Baron," says I, giving him my hand. "Trust you're enjoying your visit."

  "We are already acquainted, as I'm sure you remember," says he, shaking hands. He had a grip like a vice; I guessed he was stronger than I was, and I was damned strong, in body at least. "You recollect an evening in London? Mrs James was present."

  "By God!" says I, all astounded. "So I do! Well, well! And here you are, eh? Damme, I never expected … well, Baron, I'm glad to see you. Aye, hum. I trust Mrs James is well?"

  "Surely I should ask you?" says he, with a thin smile. "I have not seen the… lady, since that evening."

  "No? Well, well. I haven't seen a great deal of her lately myself." I was prepared to be pleasant, and let bygones be bygones, if he was. He stood, smiling with his mouth, considering me.

  "Do you know," says he at length, "I feel sure I have seen you before, but I cannot think where. That is unusual, for I have an excellent memory. No, not in England. Have you ever been in Germany, perhaps?"

  I said I hadn't.

  "Oh, well, it is of no interest," says he coolly, meaning that I was of no interest, and turned away from me.

  I hadn't liked him before, but from that moment I hated Bismarck, and decided that if ever the chance came to do him a dirty turn, I wouldn't let it slip past me.

  Tom had said he was full of bounce, and at supper that night we got a good dose of it. It was very free and easy company, as you can imagine, with no women present, and we ate and drank and shouted across the table to our heart's content, getting pretty drunk and nobody minding his manners much. Bismarck ate like a horse and drank tremendously, although it didn't seem to show on him; he didn't say much during the meal, but when the port went round he began to enter the conversation, and before long he was dominating it.

  I'll say this for him, he wasn't an easy man to ignore. You would have thought that a foreigner would have kept mum and watched and listened, but not he. His style was to ask a question, get an answer, and then deliver judgement—for instance, he says to Tom, what was the hunting like, and Tom remarking that it was pretty fair, Bismarck said he looked forward to trying it, although he doubted if chasing a fox could hold a candle to the boar-hunting he had done in Germany. Since he was a guest, no one pulled his leg, although there were a few odd looks and laughs, but he sailed on, lecturing us about how splendid German hunting was, and how damned good at it he was, and what a treat we were missing, not having wild pigs in England.

  When he had done, and there was one of those silences, Speed broke it by remarking that I had done some boar-hunting in Afghanistan; the fellows seemed to be looking to me to take the talk away from Bismarck, but before I had the chance he demanded:

  "In Afghanistan? In what capacity were you there, Captain Flashman?"

  Everyone roared with laughter at this, and Tom tried to save his guest embarrassment by explaining that I had been soldiering there, and had pretty well won the war single-handed. He needn't have minded, for Bismarck never turned a hair, but began to discourse on the Prussian Army, of all things, and his own lieutenant's commission, and how he regretted that there were so few chances of active service these days.

  "Well," says I, "you can have any that come my way, and welcome." (This is the kind of remark that folk love to hear from a hero, of course.) The fellows roared, but Bismarck frowned.

  "You would avoid dangerous service?" says he.

  "I should just think I would," says I, winking at Speed. If only they had known how true that was. "Damned unpleasant, dangerous service. Bullets, swords, chaps killing each other—no peace and quiet at all."

  When the laughter had died down, Tom explained that I was joking; that I was, in fact, an exceptionally brave man who would miss no chance of battle and glory. Bismarck listened, his cold eye never leaving me, and then, would you believe it, began to lecture us on a soldier's duty, and the nobility of serving one's Country. He obviously believed it, too, he rolled it out so solemnly, and it was all some of the younger men could do to keep their faces straight. Poor old Tom was in an anguish in case we offended his guest, and at the same time obviously nearly out of patience with Bismarck.

  "I wish to God my uncle had found some other poor devil to bear-lead him," says he later to Speedicut and me. "Was there ever a bigger bore and ass? How am I to deal with the fellow, eh?"

  We couldn't help him; in fact I resolved to keep as far out of Bismarck's way as possible. He unsettled me; he was so damned superior. Tom was wrong in one thing: Bismarck wasn't an ass, whatever else he might be. In some ways he was like that outstanding idiot Cardigan, under whom I had served in the 11th Hussars, but only on the surface. He had the same splendid certainty in everything he said and did; he looked on the world as created for him alone; he was right, and that was that. But where Cardigan's arrogant eye had the shallow stare of the born fool, Bismarck's didn't. You could see the brain at work behind it, and those who listened only to his rather monotonous sermonisings and noticed only his lack of humour—of our kind of humour, anyway—and put him down as a pompous dullard were well wide of the mark.

  I wanted nothing to do with him, anyway, b
ut in that short visit at Tom's place Bismarck still contrived to touch me on the raw twice—and in the only two things that I am any good at, too. Coward and rascal that I've always been, I have had two talents, for foreign tongues and for horses. I can master almost any language in short time, and ride anything with a mane and tail. Looking back, I can almost believe that Bismarck smelled these two gifts and set out to hip me over them.

  I don't remember how the conversation at one breakfast came to touch on foreign speech—usually it was women and drink and horses and pugs, with an occasional high flight on something like the scandalous rate of income tax at 7d in the pound.[10] But it did, and my gift was mentioned. Bismarck, lounging back in his chair, gave a sneering little laugh and said that it was a useful talent in head-waiters.[11]

  I was furious, and tried to think of some cutting retort, but couldn't. Later it occurred to me that I might have fixed him with a look and said it was also a useful gift in German pimps, but it was too late then. And you could never be quite sure with his remarks whether he was jibing or simply stating what he thought was a fact, so I just had to ignore him.

  The second set-down came on a day's hunting, when we had had poor sport and were riding home, Conyngham, drawing rein on top of a slight rise from which you could see miles of rolling countryside in every direction, points to a church which was just visible in the distance through the late afternoon haze, and cries out:

  "Who's for a steeplechase?"

  "Oh, too much of a fag," says Tom, "Anyway, it's getting dark and the beasts may go wrong. I vote for home."

  "Steeplechase?" says Bismarck. "What is that?"

  It was explained to him that the object was to race straight across country for the steeple, and he nodded and said it was an excellent sport.

  "Good for you!" cries Conyngham. "Come on, you fellows! You, Flashy, are you game?"

  "Too far," says I, for like Tom I didn't fancy taking hedges on wettish country with the light starting to fail.

  "Nonsense!" cries Bismarck. "What, gentlemen, are the English backward in their own game? Then you and I, Marquis, shall we have it out together?"

  "With you! Tally-ho!" yells Conyngham, and of course the other asses took off after them. I couldn't hang back, so cursing Bismarck I clapped in my heels and gave chase.

  Conyngham led the field over the first meadows, with Bismarck dose behind, but a couple of hedges checked them, and the rest of us caught up. I hung back a little, for steeplechasing in the style of your old-fashioned bucks, when you just go hell-for-leather at everything, is as quick a road to a broken neck as I know. If you have an eye for ground, and watch how the leaders jump and land, you can reap the benefit of their discoveries without the risk of going first. So I rode a nice easy chase for the first mile or so, and then we came into light woodland, with trees well spaced out, and I touched my hunter and moved up.

  There is a moment every jockey knows, when he feels his mount surge forward, and he lies with his head down being brushed by the mane, and sees the gap narrowing ahead of him, and knows he has the legs of the field. I felt it then as I thundered past the ruck, hearing the thud of the hooves and seeing the clods thrown up from the wet turf, feeling the wind in my face as the trees flew past; even now I see the scarlet coats in the fading light, and smell the rain-sodden country, and hear the yelps of the fellows as they cheered each other on and laughed and cursed. God, it was good to be young and English then!

  We thundered through the woodland like a charge of dragoons and were out on a long, rising incline. Conyngham held the lead to the crest, but as we came over and down it was the turn of the heavier men; Bismarck went past him, and then I, too; we pounded down to the hedgerow, Bismarck went over like a bird-he could ride, I may say—and I launched my hunter at the same gap and came through on his heels. I stayed with him, over hedges, lanes, ditches, and fences, until I saw the steeple perhaps half a mile away, and now, thinks I, is the time to get my nose in front.

  I had the speed in hand; his head came round as I drew level, and he hammered in his heels and plied his crop, but I knew I had the distance of him. He was leading by half a length as we took a rail fence; then we were on pasture with only one hedge between us and the common that ran up to the churchyard. I inched up level and then led by a head, scanning the distant hedge for a good jump. It was a nasty one, high hawthorn with trees at intervals throwing their shade over the hedgerow; there was one place that looked likely, where the hawthorn thinned and only a couple of rails covered the gap. I clapped in my heels and made for it; first over was a certain winner. As we closed in, with me half a length in front, I realised that even at the rails the jump was a good five feet; I didn't half fancy it, for as Hughes pointed out, Flashman was good only at those games which didn't entail any physical risk. But there was nothing for it; I had Bismarck headed and must keep my lead, so I steadied the hunter for the jump, and then out of nowhere came Bismarck's grey at my elbow, challenging for the jump.

  "Give way!" I roared. "My jump, damn your eyes!"

  By God, he paid not the slightest heed, but came boring in, neck and neck with me for the fence. We were almost knee to knee as we rushed down on it.

  "Get out, blast you!" I yelled again, but he was just staring ahead, teeth clenched and whip going, and I knew in an instant that it was a case of pull up or have the most unholy smash as two horses tried to take a jump where there was only space for one.

  As it was, I came within an ace of a hellish tumble; I reined back and at the same time tried to swerve from the gap; the hunter checked and swung away and we scraped along the face of the hedge with no more damage than a few scratches, while Master Bismarck cleared the rails with ease.

  By the time I had trotted back, cursing most foully, the rest of the chase was thundering up; Bismarck was waiting at the lychgate looking cool and smug when we arrived.

  "Don't you know to give way to the leader?" says I, boiling angry. "We might have broken our necks, thanks to you!"

  "Come, come, Captain Flashman," says he, "it would have been thanks to you if we had, for you would have been foolishly challenging the stronger rider."

  "What?" says I. "And who the devil says you are the stronger rider?"

  "I won, did I not?" says he.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say that he had ridden foul, but the way the other chaps were hallooing, and telling him what a damned fine race he had ridden, I thought better of it. He had gone up in their estimation; he was a damned good-plucked 'un, they shouted, and they clapped him on the back. So I contented myself with suggesting that he learn the rules of horsemanship before he rode in England again, at which the others laughed and cried:

  "That's right, Flash, damn his eyes for him!" and made a joke out of bluff Flashy's bad temper. They hadn't been close enough to see exactly what had happened, and none of them would have imagined for a minute that neck-or-nothing Flashman would give way in the breach; but Bismarck knew, and it showed in his eyes and the cold smile he gave me.

  But I had my own back on him before the week was out, and if my initial rudeness in London was the first spark in the mischief between us, what was now to come really started the fire.

  It was on the last day, after we had been to see the fight between Nick Ward the Champion, and the local pug. It was a good afternoon's sport, with the pug getting his nose broken and half his teeth knocked out; Bismarck was greatly interested, and seemed to enjoy watching the loser being battered as much as I did myself.

  At supper that night the talk was naturally of the fight, and old Jack Gully, who had refereed, held the floor. He wasn't normally an over-talkative man, despite the fact that he had been an M.P., but on his two loves—the prize ring and horseflesh—he was always worth listening to. Though it was more than thirty years since he had held the belt himself—and since retiring he had become most prosperous and was well received everywhere—he had known and seen all the greatest pugs, and was full of stories of such giants as Cribb and Bel
cher and the Game Chicken.[12]

  Of course, the company would have listened all night—I don't suppose there was a man in England, Peel, Russell, or any of them, who could have commanded such universal attention as this quiet old boxing champion. He must have been close to sixty then, and white-haired, but you could see he was still fit as a flea, and when he talked of the ring he seemed to light up and come alive.

  Bismarck, I noticed, didn't pay him much attention, but when Jack paused after a story, our German suddenly says:

  "You make very much of this boxing, I see. Now, it is an interesting enough spectacle, two of the lower orders thrashing each other with their fists, but does it not become boring after a while? Once, or even twice, perhaps, one might go to watch, but surely men of education and breeding must despise it."

  There was a growl round the table, and Speed says:

  "You don't understand it because you're a foreigner. It is our game in England. Why, in Germany, according to what you've said, fellows fight duels without any intent to kill each other, but just to get scars on their heads. Well, we wouldn't think much of that, let me tell you."

  "The schlager endows a man with honourable scars," says Bismarck. "What honour is there in beating an opponent with your fists? Besides, our dueling is for gentlemen."

  "Well, as to that, mynheer," says Gully, smiling, "gentlemen in this country ain't ashamed to use their fists. I know I wish I'd a guinea for every coroneted head I've touched with a straight left hand."

  "Mine for one, any time you please, Jack," cries Conyngham.

  "But in the use of the schlager there is soldierly skill," Bismarck insisted, and rapped his fist on the table. Oho, thinks I, what's this? Has our Prussian friend perhaps got a little more liquor on board than usual? He was a mighty drinker, as I've said, but it occurred to me that he might not be holding it so well tonight.

  "If you think there's no skill in prize-fighting, my friend, you're well out of court," says one of the others, a heavy-faced Guardee named Spottswood. "Didn't you see Ward, this afternoon, take the starch out of a chap three stone heavier than himself?"