How the Brigadier Held the King

Name: How the Brigadier Held the King
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Etienne Gerard, recovering from an ankle wound at an inn in Alamo on 1 July 1810, is desperate to rejoin his Hussars of Conflans at Pastores and refuses a commissariat officer named Vidal's black horse when Vidal will not sell it. A travelling priest offers to help him cross the mountains in a rickety diligence drawn by three old mules. On the road the priest reveals himself as a brigand in disguise, stabbing Gerard in the eye with a bradawl; Gerard overpowers him, but the coach is ambushed by guerillas who have wrecked it with boulders. Gerard is beaten and marched over the mountains to a camp where he recognizes Vidal's horse, now riderless. He is brought before the brigand chief, El Cuchillo, a mild-mannered, poetry-writing man who keeps a ledger of captured officers and reveals that a young French officer named Soubiron was buried alive by the band. Enraged, Gerard attacks Cuchillo and is bound. He then discovers Vidal's corpse nailed by the feet to a tree, having been burned to death. The brigands prepare to execute Gerard by tying his ankles to two bent-down fir trees that will tear him apart when released. As the execution is about to proceed, Gerard hears cavalry approaching and shouts for help. A young English officer, Sir Russell (called "the Bart" by Gerard), of the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, rides into the glade with four troopers and intervenes. When El Cuchillo treacherously fires a pistol at Gerard, missing him, an English sergeant cuts the brigand down, and the party cuts its way free, galloping off with Gerard mounted on Vidal's recovered horse. Riding toward the British camp, Gerard and the Bart become friendly, exchanging stories of women and army life, until they find themselves separated from the troopers and alone together. Gerard, reasoning that no parole was given and duty to his regiment comes first, declares he intends to escape. The Bart insists he must come as a prisoner and draws his sword; after a brief, careful bout in which neither truly presses an advantage, Gerard proposes they settle the matter with a card game instead of swordplay. They agree to play écarté, best of three games, staking horse, sword, and equipment on the outcome, and sit down on a rock to play. Gerard wins the first game; the Bart wins the second. In the deciding game, with the score four-all, Gerard is dealt what should be a winning hand, with the king of trumps in his possession, when he and the Bart are suddenly interrupted by three men approaching—a gaunt, hawk-nosed officer and two companions, with an escort of lancers nearby. The newcomer is General Crauford's superior, revealed as Lord Wellington, who rebukes the Bart for his lapse in discipline and orders him back to headquarters as a prisoner. Gerard pleads eloquently on the Bart's behalf, but Wellington answers only with a dry question about French mule-loading weights, then orders Gerard taken to the rear as a prisoner. When Gerard protests that he held the king and had therefore won his freedom by their wager, Wellington smiles and replies that it was he, Wellington, who won, since his king held Gerard.

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · First published 1895 · Genre: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Military Fiction · 11,659 words

First lines

I believe that the last story which I told you, my friends, was about how I received at the bidding of the Emperor the cross for valour which I had, if I may be allowed to say so, so long deserved. Here upon the lapel of my coat you may see the ribbon, but the medal itself I keep in a leathern pouch at home, and I never venture to take it out unless one of the modern peace generals, or some foreigner of distinction who finds himself in our little town, takes advantage of the opportunity to pay his respects to the well-known Brigadier Gerard. Then I place it upon my breast, and I give my moustache the old Marengo twist which brings a grey point into either eye. Yet with it all I fear that neither they, nor you either, my friends, will ever realize the man that I was. You know me only as a civilian -- with an air and a manner, it is true -- but still merely as a civilian. Had you seen me as I stood in the doorway of the inn at Alamo, on the 1st of July, in the year 1810, you would then have known what the hussar may attain to.

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How the Brigadier Held the King is listed on Textopian as a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, dated 1895 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Date: 1895 CE
Language: English
Genres: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Satire, Memoir
Length: 11,659 words
Structure: 1 section, 151 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Adventure — The narrative centers on Gerard's escape from Spanish brigands, pursuit across mountains, rescue by English dragoons, and survival against multiple threats, forming the core plot driver.
Historical Fiction — Explicitly set during the Peninsular Campaign (1810) of the Napoleular Wars, featuring period military units, tactics, and historical figures including Lord Wellington and Marshal Massena.
Military Fiction — Gerard's identity as a French hussar colonel dominates the narrative; themes of military honor, regimental loyalty, cavalry warfare, and military hierarchy permeate the work.
Satire — Gerard's boastful, self-aggrandizing first-person narration mocks military vanity; the brigand chief El Cuchillo—a murderous terrorist writing poetry—satirizes Romanticism; Wellington's final checkmate reversal critiques military pride.