Hervey 11 - On His Majesty's Service (44 page)

There is a footnote, so to speak, to the action at Pravadi, which Hervey and Fairbrother witness from a prone position in the forest, as ‘through a glass darkly’ – the horseman’s throwing his cloak at the feet of the Vizier. Moltke relates the story. The Turk batteries had pounded the Russian defences for hours, and the Vizier sent a
dehli
, a fanatic, to examine the effect of the fire. The
dehli
galloped to within fifty yards of the walls, and although hundreds of rounds were apparently fired at him he returned unhurt to report that ‘everything was as it was’ (
bir schei yok
). The Vizier, who had expected a report of several breaches at least – indeed that the walls had been entirely battered down – would not believe that the garrison was still within and resisting, and accused the
dehli
of not having ridden close enough. The
dehli
answered by throwing down his bullet-riddled cloak as proof that he had.

Finally, to obviate letters of enquiry or complaint to the publishers: Rule’s serves very fine steak and oyster puddings still, but at number thirty-five, not, as in Hervey’s day, at number thirty-eight.

¹
Although now applied almost exclusively to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean – Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan – the term ‘Levant’ referred originally (as here) to all Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It derives from Middle French (‘rising’) – ‘the land where the sun rises’ – and could be qualified by ‘near’ and ‘far’.

²
The second of the two regiments of the brigade, the 13th Light Dragoons, was one of the antecedent regiments of that which the author had the honour to command.

³
He died in 1891, aged ninety.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Allan Mallinson
is a former infantry and cavalry officer of thirty-five years' service worldwide.

As well as the Matthew Hervey series of novels, he is the author of
Light Dragoons
, a history of four regiments of British Cavalry, one of which he commanded, and
The Making of the British Army
, a history of the Army's origins from the battle of Edgehill to the current conflict in Afghanistan.

He also writes on defence matters for
The Times
and the
Daily Telegraph
, and is a regular reviewer for
The Times
, the
Spectator
and the
Literary Review
.

Also by Allan Mallinson

Fiction featuring Matthew Hervey

A CLOSE RUN THING

THE NIZAM’S DAUGHTERS
¹

A REGIMENTAL AFFAIR

A CALL TO ARMS

THE SABRE’S EDGE

RUMOURS OF WAR

AN ACT OF COURAGE

COMPANY OF SPEARS

MAN OF WAR

WARRIOR

Non-fiction

THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH ARMY

1
Published outside the UK under the title HONORABLE COMPANY

TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

A Random House Group Company

www.rbooks.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Bantam Press an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Copyright © Allan Mallinson 2011

Map on pix by Tom Coulson, Encompass Graphics

Allan Mallinson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781409044451
ISBN 9780593058169

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies outside the UK can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1