Blowhard or Hero? Or Both?

 

Between 1894 and 1903, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 17 short stories about a Napoleanic soldier with a tendency to brag about his accomplishments. The stories have an older Gerard, long after Waterloo, describing his adventures as a young officer and mentioning multiple times per story how he always conducted himself with courage and cunning. He's a great storyteller, though, so the tales he tells are enthralling.

I see two possible ways to interpret the Gerard stories. Either he was an unexceptional soldier (or perhaps not a soldier at all) who tells tall tales about a fictional version of himself. OR he was an exceptional and brave warrior who had the chops to back up his ego. In this latter case, the stories he tells are true.

I enjoy taking the second option. Gerard's stories are a lot more fun if (in the context of Doyle's fictional world) really happened. He can be a bit of a blowhard, but earned his bragging rights several times over.

"How the Brigadier Came to the Castle of Gloom" was published in the July 1895 issue of The Strand. Gerard tells a story from 1807, when he was a captain serving in Poland. While on a mission to bring fresh horses back to his unit, he meets the young Sub-Lieutenant Duroc, who is looking for the man who murdered his father during the bloody days of the revolution.

Gerard and Durac end up at the castle of Baron Straubenthal, the man who commited the murder. Durac challenges the Baron to a duel, but the villain is without honor and tricks them into walking into a supply cellar. The two soldiers are locked inside while the Baron sends a messenger to a nearby unit of Cossack raiders. 

So an escape needs to happen quickly. I don't want to give away too much, because there's a link below to find the Gerard stories and read them for yourself. But it involves an unhappy stepdaughter smuggling them a key, a gunpowder bomb, a fight with a dog, and a sword duel. 

It's great stuff. Whether Gerard is telling a "true" story or if he's inventing/exaggerating his exploits, he (or rather Conan Doyle) is one of the best storytellers ever. 

The stories were eventually collected into two volumes. You can find the first one HERE and the second HERE.