Flashman Papers 3-Book Collection 2: Flashman and the Mountain of Light, Flash For Freedom!, Flashman and the Redskins. George Fraser MacDonald
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СКАЧАТЬ that it wasn’t his arse that had been toasted over a slow fire. He just grunted.

      “Maka Khan’d never ha’ gone through with it. He’d try to scare you, but torture isn’t his style.”

      “The devil it ain’t! Good God, man, I was half-broiled, I tell you! Those swine would have stopped at nothing! Why, they roasted my punkah-wallah to death –”

      “So they told you. Even if they did, a no-account nigger’s one thing, a white officer’s another. Still, you were lucky … thanks to Josiah. Yes, and to Goolab Singh.”

      I asked him why he thought Goolab and the widow had taken such risks on my behalf, and he stared at me as though I were half-witted.

      “He told you plain enough, I’d say! The more good turns he does the British, the better they’ll like him. He’s promised to stand by ’em in the war, but protecting you is worth a thousand words. He’s counting on you to do him credit with Hardinge – and you do it, d’you hear? Goolab’s an old fox, but he’s a brave man and a strong ruler, and deserves to have your people confirm him as king in Kashmir when this war’s over.”

      It seemed to me he was being optimistic in thinking we’d be in a position to confirm anyone in Kashmir when the Khalsa had done with us, but I didn’t care to croak in front of a Yankee, so I said offhand: “You think we’ll beat the Khalsa quite handily, then?”

      “There’ll be some damned long faces in Lahore Fort if you don’t,” says he bluntly, and before I could ask him to explain that bewildering remark, he added: “But you’ll be able to watch the fight from the ringside yourself, before the week’s out.”

      “I don’t see that,” says I. “I agree I can’t stay in Lahore, but I’m in no case to ride for the frontier in a hurry, either – not with this confounded leg. I mean, even in disguise, you never know – I might have to cut and run, and I’d rather have two sound pins for that, what?” So you’d best find me a safe, comfortable spot to lie up in meanwhile, was what I was hinting, and waited for him to agree. He didn’t.

      “We can’t wait for your leg to mend! This war is liable to be won and lost in a few days at most – which means you must be across the Sutlej without delay, even if you have to be carried!” He glared at me, whiskers bristling. “The fate of India may well depend on that, Mr Flashman!”

      The sun couldn’t have got him, not in December, and he wasn’t tight. Tactfully I asked him how the fate of India came into it, since I had no vital intelligence to take with me, and my addition to the forces of the Company, while no doubt welcome in its small way, could hardly be decisive.

      “Forces of the Company my aunt’s petticoat!” snarls he. “You’re going in with the Khalsa!”

      a Daghabazi=treachery.

       Chapter 11

      If life has taught me anything at all, it’s how to keep my countenance in the presence of strong, authoritative men whose rightful place is in a padded cell. I’ve known a power of them, to my cost, and Alick Gardner’s a minor figure in a list that includes the likes of Bismarck, Palmerston, Lincoln, Gordon, John Charity Spring, M.A., George Custer, and the White Raja, to say nothing of my beloved mentor, Dr Arnold, and my old guv’nor (who did end his days in a blue-devil factory, bless him). Many of them men of genius, no doubt, but all sharing the delusion that they could put any proposal, however lunatic, to young Flashy and make him like it. There’s no arguing with such fellows, of course; all you can do, if you’re lucky, is nod and say: “Well, sir, that’s an interesting notion, to be sure – just before you tell me more about it, would you excuse me for a moment?” and once you’re round the corner, make for the high ground. I’ve seldom had that chance, unfortunately, and there’s nothing for it but to sit with an expression of attentive idiocy trying to figure a way out. Which is what I did with Gardner while he elaborated his monstrous suggestion.

      “You’re going with the Khalsa,” says he, “to ensure its defeat. It’s doomed and damned already, thanks to Mai Jeendan – but you can make it certain.”

      “I don’t quite follow, Gardner, old fellow,” says I. “You say the Khalsa’s doomed … and it’s Jeendan’s doing? But … she never wanted this war, you know. She’s been working to avoid it – hocussing the Khalsa, delaying ’em, holding ’em back. They know it, too – Maka Khan told me. And now they’ve broken loose, in spite of her –”

      “In spite of … why, you jackass!” cries he, glaring like the Ancient Mariner. “She started it! Don’t you understand – she’s been planning this war for months! Why? To destroy the Khalsa, of course – to see it exterminated, root and branch! Sure, she held ’em back – until the cold weather, until she’d fixed it so they have the worst possible generals, until she’d bought time for Gough! But not to avoid war, no sir! Just to make sure that when she did send ’em in, the Khalsa would get whipped five ways to Sunday! Don’t you know that?”

      “Talk sense – why should she want to destroy her own army?”

      “Because if she doesn’t, it will sure as hell destroy her in the end!” He fetched a deep breath. “See here … you know the Khalsa’s gotten too big for its britches, don’t you? For six years it’s been ruining the Punjab, defying government, doing as it dam’ well pleases –”

      “I know all that, but –”

      “Well, don’t you see, the ruling clique – Jeendan and the nobles – have had their power and fortunes wiped out, their very existence threatened? So of course they want the Khalsa crushed – and the only force on earth that can do that is John Company! That’s why they’ve been trying to provoke a war – that’s why Jawaheer wanted one! But they murdered him – and that’s another score Mai Jeendan has to settle. You remember her that night at Maian Mir, don’t you? She was sentencing the Khalsa then, Mr Flashman – now she’s executing them!”

      I remembered her screaming hate at the Khalsa over Jawaheer’s body – but Gardner still wasn’t making sense. “Dammit, if the Khalsa goes under, she’ll go with it!” I protested. “She’s their queen – and you say she’s set them on! Well, if they lose, she’ll be finished, won’t she?”

      He sighed, shaking his head. “Son, it won’t even take the dander out of her hair. When they lose, she’s won. Consider … Britain doesn’t want to conquer the Punjab – too much trouble. It just wants it nice and quiet, with no Khalsa running wild, and a stable Sikh government who’ll do what Hardinge tells ’em. So … when the Khalsa’s licked, your chiefs won’t annex the Punjab – no, sir! They’ll find it convenient to keep little Dalip on the throne, with Jeendan as regent – which means that she and the nobles will be riding high again, squeezing the fat out of the country just like old times – and with no Khalsa to worry about.”

      “Hold on! Are you saying that this war’s a put-up job – that they know, in Simla, that Jeendan is hoping we’ll СКАЧАТЬ