Flashman On The March From The Flashman Papers, 1867-8

"Half a million in silver, did you say?" "In Maria Theresa dollars. Worth a hundred thou' in quids." He held up a gleaming coin, broad as a crown, with the old girl double-chinned on one side and the Austrian arms on t'other. "Dam' disinheritin' old bitch, what? Mind, they say she was a plum in her youth, blonde and buxom, just your sort, Flashy" "Ne'er mind my sort. The cash must reach this place in Africa within four weeks? And the chap who was to have escorted it is laid up in Venice with yellow jack?" "Or the clap, or the sailor's itch, or heaven knows what." He spun the coin, grinning foxy-like. "You've changed your mind, haven't you? You're game to do it yourself! Good old Flash!" "Don't rush your fences, Speed, my boy. When's it due to be shipped out?" "Wednesday. Lloyd packet to Alexandria. But with Sturgess comin' all over yellow in Venice, that won't do, and there ain't another Alex boat for a fortnightfar too late, and the Embassy'll run my guts up the flagpole, as though 'twas my fault, confound 'em" "Aye, it's hell in the diplomatic. Well, tell you what, SpeedI'll ride guard on your dollars to Alex for you, but I ain't waiting till Wednesday. I want to be clear of this blasted town by dawn tomorrow, so you'd best drum up a steam-launch and crew, and get your precious treasure aboard tonightwhere is it just now?" "At the station, the Strada Ferratabut dammit, Flash, a private charter'll cost the moon" "You've got Embassy dibs, haven't you? Then use 'em! The station ain't spitting distance from the Klutsch mole, and if you get a move on you can have the gelt loaded by midnight. Heavens, man, steam craft and spaghetti sailors are ten a penny in Trieste! If you're in such a sweat to get the dollars to Africa" "You may believe it! Let me see . . . quick run to Alex, then train to Cairo and on to Suezno camel caravans across the desert these days, but you'll need to hire nigger porters" "For which you'll furnish me cash!" He waved a hand. "Sturgess would've had to hire 'em, anyway. At Suez one of our Navy sloops'll take you down the Red Seathere are shoals of 'em, chasin' the slavers, and I'll give you an Embassy order. They'll have you at Zoolathat's the port for Abyssiniaby the middle of February, and it can't take above a week to get the silver up-country to this place called Attegrat. That's where General Napier will be." "Napier? Not Bob the Bughunter? What the blazes is he doing in Abyssinia? We haven't got a station there." "We have by now, you may be sure!" He was laughing in disbelief. "D'you mean to tell me you haven't heard? Why, he's invadin' the place! With an army from India! The silver is to help fund his campaign, don't you see? Good God, Flashy, where have you been? Oh, I was forgettin'Mexico. Dash it, don't they have newspapers there?" "Hold up, can't you? Why is he invading?Fraser, George MacDonald is the author of 'Flashman On The March From The Flashman Papers, 1867-8', published 2005 under ISBN 9781400044757 and ISBN 1400044758.