Blood and Famine (Man of Conflict Series, Book 4) Read online

  “Cooper? How was I injured? Where? How long ago?”

  “Yesterday, sir, in the morning. Horse’s hoof, sir, on the head. Knocked you to the side, lucky for you. It rolled right over old Dinesh – lucky ‘e’d got his watch already like, sir, because he ain’t saving up his pennies no more, sir. Over his chest, poor lad, and stuck the broken ribs into the insides.”

  “What about you, man?”

  “Not a scratch, sir. Missed me by a foot or more. Peter the same. I stuck the trooper with the old bayonet, just to make sure, and by the time I’d recovered Captain Collins and his blokes had chased the Frogs off – there was only the one squadron and they’d lost their order, sir. Shot their officers, the lads did, and the rest pulled back. Captain Collins brought his company forward in line and Captain Boldre held a square to cover ‘im. They did it bloody well, sir. Saved your bacon and mine!”

  “Bad luck for Dinesh, though.”

  “It was his time, sir. We all goes when it’s our turn. I brought the brandy bottle in, sir, if you fancy a nip, sir.”

  “The way my head hurts, Cooper, you can take your brandy bottle and stick it – somewhere it cannot easily be seen. I feel as if I’d been kicked in the head already, without adding brandy to it!”

  “Very wise, Colonel Pearce!”

  The surgeon sounded tired, acerbic, almost at the end of his endurance.

  “Were many lost? What is the butcher’s bill?”

  “Too many, sir. Details you do not need in your present state but there was a score of amputations!”

  “Small wonder you are fatigued, doctor!”

  The surgeon gave a half-bow in response and returned to his immediate business.

  “You have received a severe blow to the cranium, sir. As you are awake and lucid, which I had not entirely expected, it may be assumed that there was no fracture to the skull. That may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance, sir, because, of course, you would certainly have died had there been! I stitched the wound to the scalp whilst you were comatose, sir, on the off chance that the sutures might be necessary, though fearing that I might be wasting both my time and best silken thread. Seventeen stitches, sir, and I cannot imagine that the hair will grow back in any natural fashion. I suspect that you may find yourself reduced to a wig, sir – old-fashioned but not entirely unacceptable in a soldier. You will wish to rest, sir, for not less than one month, in the hope that the headaches will go away. Violent exercise or untoward concentration on paperwork at your desk can only worsen the pains. A healthy but low diet is to be recommended – fish and chicken much preferable to beef, I would suggest. A good tonic - port wine and the Lancaster Black Drop must be suggested - and no ardent spirits, sir. Perhaps a healthy walk in sea air. But you must not be subjected to the rolling of a ship for at least the month, sir. Lisbon, I would recommend, until you can be certain whether you may return to service or if you would be better advised to go to half-pay in England for some months.”

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  Thank you for reading Book Four of the “Man of Conflict Series.” Book Five’s projected release date is autumn/winter, 2016. In the meantime, please take look the author’s other novels listed on the following pages.

  By the Same Author

  A Poor Man at the Gate Series: Book One: The Privateersman. Escaping the hangman’s noose in England, commoner Tom Andrews finds himself aboard a privateering ship before fleeing to New York at the time of the Revolutionary War. It is a place where opportunities abound for the unscrupulous. Hastily forced to return to England, he ruthlessly chases riches in the early industrial boom. But will wealth buy him love and social respectability?

  Kindle links to the whole series:

  US/worldwide

  http://tinyurl.com/A-Poor-Man

  UK only

  http://tinyurl.com/A-Poor-Man-UK

  The Duty and Destiny Series: Published in 2014, these superbly-crafted novel length sea/land stories are set in the period of the French Revolutionary War (1793 – 1802). The series follows the naval career and love-life of Frederick Harris, the second son of a middling Hampshire landowner, a brave but somewhat reluctant mariner.

  Please note: This series is currently available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

  Kindle links to the whole series:

  US/worldwide:

  http://tinyurl.com/Duty-and-Destiny-Series

  UK only:

  http://tinyurl.com/Duty-and-Destiny-Series-UK

  A Victorian Gent: Naïve Dick Burke is hoodwinked into marrying a man-hungry aristocrat’s daughter who just seven months later produces a son! It’s the start of a long humiliation that sees Dick flee to America as the Civil War looms. Siding with the Union, the bloody conflict could be the making or the breaking of him, as could his alliance with Elizabeth, an attractive and feisty American businesswoman.

  Universal Kindle Link: http://getbook.at/Victorian

  In the early 1900s gutter rat, Ned Hawkins aims to rise from the grinding poverty of an English slum, but is forced to flee the country and ends up in Papua. It is a dangerous place where cannibalism and cannibals are never far away. Despite this menacing backdrop, he prospers and almost by accident, finds love. However, there are ominous stirrings in the land that bode ill for the future

  Universal Kindle Link: http://getbook.at/Cannibal-One

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