THE COMPLETE McAUSLAN
GEORGE MACDONALD FRASER
These novels are entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in them are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
The General Danced at Dawn first published by Barrie & Jenkins Ltd. 1970
‘The General Danced at Dawn’ and ‘Guard and the Castle’ were first published in Scotland’s Magazine under the by-line ‘By Dand MacNeill’, and part of ‘Monsoon Selection Board’ in The Red Poppy.
The Sheikh and the Dustbin first published by Collins Harvill 1988
McAuslan in the Rough first published by Barrie & Jenkins Ltd 1970
Copyright © George MacDonald Fraser 1970, 1988, 1974
George MacDonald Fraser asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of these works
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780006513711
Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9780007325665 Version: 2018-11-01
Contents
Play Up, Play Up, and Get Tore In
The Servant Problem
Captain Errol
The Constipation of O’Brien
The Sheikh and the Dustbin
McAuslan, Lance-Corporal
The Gordon Women
Ye mind Jie Dee, Fletcher?
Extraduction
Author’s Note
Glossary
General Knowledge, Private Information
THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN
GEORGE MACDONALD FRASER
For my father.
Our coal-bunker is old, and it stands beneath an ivy hedge, so that when I go to it in wet weather, I catch the combined smells of damp earth and decaying vegetation. And I can close my eyes and be thousands of miles away, up to my middle in a monsoon ditch in India, with my face pressed against the tall slats of a bamboo fence, and Martin-Duggan standing on my shoulders, swearing at me while the rain pelts down and soaks us. And all