Forever the Colours by Richard Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

approximately thirty to forty years of age, wrinkled and tanned skin, and a very large moustache. What was also highly strange was the uniform. This guy looked like he had just stepped out of the film Zulu . Apart from the fact that his tunic wasn’t red but a dirty beige colour, and he came complete with a pith helmet.
    Ah! The tit , he thought. OK, I’ve had a knock on the head and the rest of the lads are having a laugh, and got this joker with the fake tash to wind me up. That’s what it is, panic over. All right, it’s pretty realistic, but what else could it be? Right, I will play along and see where it’s going .
    â€˜Very well, Mark, I apologise for the profanities. It’s just that I’m feeling a little out of sorts this evening.’ He had to smile at his attempt at being posh. ‘I would be terribly grateful if you could tell me where we are headed and why?’
    â€˜Oh, well then, that’s more like it, lad, much better. Well, it was like this, see, ye was found union – unconsha – asleep. Next to a dead ’oss of artillery. And lying across yer was one of them backstabbing levies who had been stuck by one of our boys straight through his backstabbing gizzard.’ He took a breath. ‘Well, after that little scrap, me and some of the other lads went poking round looking to see if any of our lot was lying injured or what not, and that’s when we found ye, lad.’
    Tommy had to give this guy credit. He was doing a fantastic job of playing a character from that Zulu movie. And any time now , he thought, he will start singing ‘Men of Harlech’ in a dodgy Welsh accent .
    â€˜Thank you for saving me, Mark.’ This is getting good . ‘Would you mind telling me our destination, please?’
    â€˜Well, lad, according to Major Preston, we will be heading for a village. I can’t recall the name of it, couldn’t prun, prunon, say it! Even if I knew, anyways, well, it’s about half way back towards Kandahairy.’
    â€˜Kandahar.’
    â€˜That’s what I said.’
    Tommy sighed heavily.
    â€˜So, Mark, what did the levies do that was so terrible, then?’
    â€˜Well, lad, seeing that ye don’t remember, those backstabbers was supposed to be on our side and they ended up turning their coats, ya see. But the old General, well, he won’t have any of that, will he, so he has the Cavalry pretty boys take a run at ’em, them heathen. Ghazis, most likely, and they were no match for our galloping gunners or the 66th, and we took their guns off ’em.’
    This guy is quite adept , thought Tommy. He knows his stuff . And Tommy knew that Mark knew his stuff because he’d gotten a B+ in his A-level history exam at school. He had always had an interest in the military, right from an early age, and he recalled the army language that was used in the days of tribesmen, cavalry and levies. If memory served him, the ‘Ghazi’ were religious fanatics during the Afghan wars. He thought harder as he bumped and bounced along to God knows where. Galloping gunners he was sure was an artillery unit, but the 66th he wasn’t so sure about. Infantry maybe? He continued to play along with the joke.
    â€˜Mark, me old mate, who are the 66th?’
    â€˜Have ye lost yer memory altogether, then, lad? ’Tis yer own regiment, of course.’
    â€˜Sorry, Mark, but will you humour me? I think that bang on the head was a lot harder than I thought.’ Let’s see if this trips him up , he thought.
    â€˜The 66th Regiment of Foot, lad, ye know? The Berkshires. Ye making fun of me now?’
    Ah , thought Tommy, now it’s starting to come together . The Berkshires! The 66th! Of course, they were famous for…famous for… oh crap, famous for what? Think, think, Got it! They were involved in a battle in the 1800s somewhere near Kabul. Ah ha! he thought, got him. We’re nowhere near Kabul. So