To pg. 37 Summary

Aged Harry Flashman's great grandchildren ask him, as the song goes, about John Brown's body. Flashy feels that American slavery would have died out naturally, but Brown plays his part in ending it—as did he. While legend calls Brown the Angel of the Lord, Flashy finds him an ordinary, kindly chap with bright, fierce eyes who kills many before they meet. Walking back to the house, Flashy teaches the children alternate verses to the song. Strolling into tea filthy from play, they are banished. Flashy contemplates how Brown certainly is a saint as the poets have declared, but also a brute as biographers have shown. Flashy helps Brown make history by not shooting him in the back.

The second chapter finds Flashy contemplating perishing at cursed Harper's Ferry. He is callous towards slavery when it does not affect him...