L bussenard captain daredevil summary. Some features of military medicine

The work of Louis Boussinard “Captain Rip Off the Head” tells the story of the young daredevil Jean Grandier, a rich teenager who managed to assemble a detachment of his peers in order to assist the Boer troops in the fight against the British. It should be noted that in war the young man shows excellent leadership qualities, valor and courage, which are sometimes lacking even in adult, experienced soldiers. It was for his recklessness, lack of self-preservation instinct and extraordinary courage that the young man was nicknamed “Captain Rip Off His Head.”

The action begins with a court-martial. Boer David Potter is sentenced to death for poisoning enemy horses. It would seem that the warrior’s fate is predetermined. But suddenly a mysterious and unknown young man appears and pays bail for the accused. However, the judges are adamant. The shooting still happens.

David leaves behind a son, Paul. He leaves with the mysterious young man. By the way, this is exactly who Jean Grandier turns out to be. Paul Potter is shocked by his father's death; he wants to punish the killers at all costs. Captain “Tear off the head” takes him into his squad, where the young man has many opportunities to be useful and not only avenge his parent, but also to defend the honor of the people.

Jean is captured by the British, but escapes by swimming. The sea is teeming with sharks, so one can only envy the young man’s fearlessness.

The second part describes the battle of Kimberley. The events are described quite realistically and dynamically - sometimes it is even impossible to tear yourself away from the description of the battles and adventures of the young heroes. Jean kills Captain Harden, one of David Potter's judges, delivers a secret letter to General Joubert, and accomplishes many feats.

It should be noted that the young man is quite experienced and determined for his age. Based on the descriptions, he is no more than 15-18 years old. Despite this, the young man acts decisively, calmly, with the confidence of an experienced military leader. The members of his squad are as young and brave as Jean himself - it is quite obvious that he selected proven guys to match him. Although, of course, Grandier himself is the undisputed leader.

The third part of the work fully justifies its name. A detachment of "Skins" is tasked with blowing up a reservoir, which is guarded by English troops. Naturally, the young captain approaches the task responsibly and seriously. He is carefully preparing for the operation.

Finally, the young captain, together with Paul Potter and Fanfan, dressed as shepherdesses, approaches the reservoir. While Paul distracts the soldiers, his comrades plant dynamite. The reservoir has been blown up! The British are eager to chase the “Skins”, but they repulse the attacks.

At the end of the work, Jean writes a letter to his sister saying that he and Fanfan are in the infirmary, under the control of the British, but as soon as he gets better, he will run away and continue to fight for freedom. It is a pity that the author does not give us the opportunity to observe further developments of events.

Without a doubt, Boussenard's creation is a classic of adventure literature. What attracts is the age of the hero, which, taking into account the similar age of the reader, creates an indescribable atmosphere where the reader himself seems to be a member of Jean’s squad and, together with the guys, performs brave feats and noble deeds.

An instructive moment is the struggle for freedom and justice, which burns with fire in the heart of a young man and his friends - even wounds and hardships cannot force young men to give up their activities. Victory or death is the motto of such fearless people who become real heroes in war.

Reader's diary.

A young and rich Frenchman, Jean Grandier, voluntarily goes to Africa to help the Boers in the war against the British aggressors, and creates a combat detachment. For his courage, Jean is nicknamed “Captain Rip-Off.”

Part one. Skins

Boer farm. Military court. British officers sentence Boer David Potter to death for poisoning cavalry horses. A young man who suddenly appears asks to delay the execution for a huge cash deposit, but the judges are adamant, and the Boer is shot. The young man leaves with Paul, the son of the murdered man. Suddenly it turns out that the young man is the famous Boer scout Jean Grandier, nicknamed “Captain Rip-Head.” The British begin the chase, but Jean and his friends manage to evade pursuit.

The Anglo-Boer War is going on. In the battle of Ladysmith, the Boers defeat the British. Colonel the Duke of Richmond, the chairman of the trial of the Boer Potter, is captured by them. Soon he is killed by Paul Potter, avenging his father.

Captain Rip-Head, during a night reconnaissance, is captured by the British and finds himself imprisoned on a pontoon - a prisoner camp located in the bay of the sea. At night, Rip-Head jumps into the shark-infested sea and swims to the shore. He sneaks into Fort Simonstown, accidentally finds women's clothing there, and, putting it on, passes the sentries into the city. There he pretends to be a girl and gets a job in the service of old Mrs. Adams.

Mrs. Adams receives news that her son, Captain Adams (another of Potter's executioners), is seriously wounded. Mrs. Adams and her false maid are going to the front, to the hospital to see their son. When they arrive at Olifansfontein, where the hospital is located, Adams is already dead.

It's not far from the Boer positions here. Rip-off-the-head jumps onto a horse abandoned by someone and gallops towards the Boer outposts. Despite the shelling, he reaches the Boer positions and meets friends.

Part two. Fight of giants

The Battle of Kimberley takes place. Despite the victory over the British, the Boer commander, General Cronje, does not give the order to catch up and completely defeat the retreating forces. At night, the Boer camp comes under fire from an approaching English armored train. The "Skins" squad is tasked with blowing up a bridge and railroad tracks, which they successfully accomplish. The Boers capture an armored train and its crew. Surrendering, the English captain brazenly shoots the Boer, and Captain Rip-Head kills him. This murdered Englishman is Captain Harden, who tried David Potter.

Cronje sends Rip-off with a secret letter to General Joubert. The most convenient way to travel is by bicycle. Rip-the-head takes his comrade-in-arms Fanfan with him. Having destroyed an entire detachment of English lancers along the way, going through enormous difficulties, they reach their goal. Having rested, the friends go back to Cronje with a reply letter from Joubert.

Cronje's army is stationed at Magersfontein. A large army of British gradually bypasses the Boers, surrounding them. Cronje does not believe in the possibility of encirclement and does not take any action. Soon the Boer army is surrounded and the British begin a massive bombardment. After a week of resistance, the Boers surrender. Jean Grandier, Fanfan and Paul Potter are captured by the British. Suddenly, the commander of the Canadian company, Francois Junot, recognizes his old friend Jean Grandier and, out of solidarity with his fellow French, helps them escape from captivity.

While crossing the river, Pol suddenly disappears. Rip-Head and Fanfan encounter five Englishmen and they capture them. The detachment is commanded by Captain Roussel, the next executioner of David Potter. Roussel orders Captain Rip-Head and Fanfan to be hanged, but at the last moment Paul Potter appears in an English uniform and shoots all the soldiers, preventing them from carrying out the execution. Friends hang Captain Roussel and leave for the Boer army.

Part three. Dynamite War

The command instructs Captain Rip-Head to blow up the Thaba-Ngu reservoir, controlled by the British. Jean Grandier, Fanfan and Paul, disguised as shepherdesses who brought the watering place to a watering place, approach the reservoir. While Paul distracts the soldiers, his friends plant dynamite in the walls of the reservoir. After they leave, the reservoir explodes. British lancers go in pursuit of the saboteurs, but the "Skins" kill them, and the three survivors are forced to dress up in shepherdesses' clothes and go back.

The scouts return to the farm where they were previously stationed. Several of their comrades are also there. Suddenly the farm is surrounded by a detachment of Englishmen. A shootout begins. The crazy guy figures out how to break out of the encirclement. The besieged tie dynamite cartridges to the horns of the cows, set fire to the cartridges and try to drive the cows towards the British, but the cows refuse to budge. And then the old farm mistress and her daughters lure the animals out of the farm and die under their hooves. The cows run out and the dynamite begins to explode. The British are crushed and driven back.

The scouts set fire to the farm and leave, after which they encounter detachments of British lancers and defeat them in a difficult battle. Rip-off head decides to go on reconnaissance into the enemy camp, and orders his soldiers to make their way to the Boer army.

Wearing clothes taken from a killed English soldier, he enters the camp under cover of darkness. Having seen everything he needed, he tries to mount one of the horses and ride away, but a restive horse throws him off, and there is a noise in the camp. Rip-off hides in a large officer's tent and sees Major Colville, known to him, there - the last surviving executioner of David Potter. He ties up the sleeping Colville, having previously hit him on the head with a pistol, and leaves the tent. The major's orderly notices him and raises the alarm. Rip-off head has to hide again.

In order to successfully leave the camp, he buys several bottles of whiskey at the store and distributes them to the patrols he encounters along the way. Already at the exit from the camp, he again attracts attention to himself by killing a soldier who tried to detain him. The alarm is raised again, but Rip-Head successfully escapes from pursuit on a horse and gets to his own.

One day, a detachment of Major Colville's lancers appears on the Blesbukfontein farm and brutally destroys all the inhabitants of the farm. The detachment of Captain Rip-off, which arrived in time after this, kills the British, including Colville.

The Boer army, under pressure from the British, is forced to leave the Vaal River. The crossing is difficult, and the British are already close. The “Skins” undertake to detain them and almost all of them die. Francois Junot is again among the attackers and takes the wounded Jean and Fanfan from the battlefield.

A few months later, Jean Grandier writes a letter to his sister from Cape Town, where he says that he and Fanfan are in the hospital under the strict supervision of the British, but they will still try to escape in order to continue to fight for freedom.

Retold Bermont Eskantovsky.

Valery Vladimirovich Medvedev

Captain Lying Head

(Five stories from the life of Dmitry Kolchanov)

It was I, when I was still serving in the army, who noticed: after a difficult exercise or a long march, tired soldiers, do you know who they gather near at a rest stop? And next to the most cheerful fighter, who not only does not lose heart, but also knows how to lift the spirits of others with some funny joke, or story, or just a sharp word. The soldiers laugh, they laugh - in a word, they relax. I also noticed in the army: whoever did not take part in a cheerful conversation, but sat alone somewhere under a tree or lay down to sleep under a bush, did not really rest, and whoever had fun, his fatigue disappeared as if by hand.

You see what a miraculous remedy this laughter is! Now you probably don’t need to explain why I love writing funny stories more than anything else in the world.

HOW CAPTAIN LIE-HEAD NEARLY FELL IN LOVE, OR AN UGLY GIRL

Dima Kolchanov, aka Captain Lie-Head, aka (for short!) Captain Sogo, took off the boxing gloves that he had taken from a novice boxer from a nail. Then he drew a small bruise under his eye with a chemical pencil and stuck an adhesive plaster on his completely healthy forehead with a cross. And in such a terrifying form, he boldly and almost fearlessly went out into the street and went in search of the overwhelming company. Usually he avoided these meetings, but today he himself went to meet them. He found their entire horde near the cinema. Boris Smirnov strummed his guitar and sang, and Stepan Komarov sang something along with him. Kolchanov approached them, well, just impudently and very close. Boxing gloves hung menacingly on his shoulder... the patch on his forehead was glowing, the bruise was blue under his eye.

- What it is? What's the matter? “Oh, mom, I’m afraid,” Komarov said.

“Captain Sogo is the world champion in weight,” Smirnov laughed.

Kolchanov stood straight, although his legs were breaking from fear. This puzzled the suppressors so much that they did not even immediately begin to suppress him, but first finished singing their song.

“Yours for us,” said Komarov, turning to Kolchanov, “but ours is not for you...

The usual suppression of personality began, from which Kolchanov most often fled, but this time he stood, although his legs on their own tried to break away.

“I haven’t seen you for a long time,” said Komarov. -Where have you been?

- He disappears at the boxing school! - said Smirnov.

- It disappears there! – Viktor Molchunov supported him.

“He’s already started to disappear, look at how many bruises they gave him.” – Komarov laughed disgustingly.

Kolchanov boldly remained silent.

– Do you know how dogs are cut? – Boris Smirnov asked him mockingly.

The overwhelming ones always asked Kolchanov some stupid questions when they met.

- With scissors! – Kolchanov answered impudently.

- With scissors! – Vitka Molchunov laughed. – Dogs are cut like this... By the tail and against the fence. It’s a pity that you don’t have a tail, otherwise... I would show you how dogs are cut.

Kolchanov again boldly remained silent.

“Jump up,” said Komarov, “why have you been standing in one place for a long time?” Stagnant, perhaps?

Kolchanov jumped. Changes jingled in his pockets.

- Unload! – Komarov ordered, as always. - Smirnov, help. Why aren't you uploading? – Komarov was surprised. – Why aren’t you unloading? – Komarov asked Smirnov and Viktor Molchunov.

“So it will hit,” said Smirnov.

“I won’t hit you,” said Kolchanov. – They took a signature from me that I would not beat non-boxers.

- Who took it?

- Boxing trainer. In "Wings". There were open competitions there. Go out and box whoever you want, with whoever you want. I went out and knocked out the Moscow champion among boys. I'm going straight to the third category. And I have a receipt so that I don’t fight in vain. If I don’t keep my word, I’ll be disqualified.

“He gives it,” said Komarov.

Molchunov and Smirnov raked out all the change from Kolchanov’s pockets.

“The ruble is twenty-three kopecks,” said Dima Kolchanov and explained: “I’m doing this so that I don’t take too much from you when you repay the debt...” And I thought to myself: “The gloves didn’t work...”

And the next day, my father’s colleague came to the Kolchanovs for pies. Together with him, he brought two sons, whose funny names were Keshka and Geshka, and he also took with him a daughter named Toshka. Dima immediately converted it into Potato. Dima wasn’t used to thinking about girls at all and didn’t even pay attention to them. He didn’t even pay attention to Natasha Rybkina. That is, there was one case when he paid attention to her, somehow noticed that she existed - so shy and bright. And he said something to his mother about Natasha - they say, she looks like a snowdrop. Mom was surprised and said: “What is this! It’s too early for you to think about this, too early!”

“Well, it’s so early!” It’s better for mom to know that it’s early or not early, well, of course, only in this sense, and not in the sense of travel. She's an adult, and she knows better. Dima then thought that, probably, a day comes in every boy’s life when his mother or father comes up to him and says: “Well, let’s think about the girls, think! It's time!

For some reason, by the way, Toshka was seated at the table next to Dima. And dad patted Dima on the shoulder and said: “Well, son, be a man, take care of your neighbor!”

“It’s begun,” thought Dima, “that means we can already think about girls!” He looked carefully at Toshka and was horrified. Indeed, the nose is like a potato! The eyes are somehow... not at all... like those of a cat. Green. And the teeth are sparse... every now and then... and the ears too... The ears stick out! And the voice is so... squeaky and nasty! And most importantly, when she started eating the pies, her ears began to move funny. Up and down, up and down. Dima felt uncomfortable looking at her. It's better to look at her brothers. Although, by the way, it was not much pleasure. Keshka swallowed the pies like a boa constrictor, without chewing them at all; he probably swallowed ten of them a minute. Geshka, on the contrary, chewed the pies with such appetite that something was crackling behind his ears all the time. Poke and prick! And Dima felt so disgusted here, he became so freaked out inside himself that he couldn’t stand it. Rising from the table without asking, he ran into the garden and began reading a book that dad had left in the clearing. At that moment he was ready to run to the ends of the world.

Suddenly there was a rustling sound behind him when he had completely calmed down. Dima looked back. And I saw this nasty Toshka-Potato. She, humming something under her breath, began to walk around Dima, narrowing the circles, and picking flowers in the grass. Dima looked at her suspiciously and thought: “I’m stuck, I’m sad... She probably wants to be liked... Look, she’s bursting into song! La la la la! Nobody invited her here!”

Louis Boussenard

Captain Rip-Head

(Captain Rip-off - 3)

* PART ONE. SUCKS*

CHAPTER 1 Death sentence. - Boer and his friend, a young Frenchman. - Refusal to suspend the execution of the sentence on a million-dollar bail. - The convict digs his own grave. - Execution. - Tragic scene. - Revenge. - Captain Rip-Head and the chase after him

The senior sergeant, acting secretary of the military field court, stood up. In his hand is a piece of paper with a sentence that he has just scribbled. In a sharp and dry voice, emphasizing each syllable, he read it to the condemned man:

- “The Regimental Council, sitting as a court-martial, unanimously sentenced to death David Potter, guilty of poisoning twenty-five horses of the fourth artillery battery. The verdict is final, cannot be appealed and will be carried out immediately.”

Five members of the court in white helmets, with holsters on their waist belts, sit on folding chairs, casually holding sabers with their knees; they have the haughty and contemptuous air of gentlemen forced to perform an unpleasant and boring duty. One of them, a young captain, even muttered through his teeth:

My God!.. So many ceremonies to send some kind of swindler, white savage, rebel, robber and murderer to the next world!

But the chairman of the court, a handsome man in the uniform of Colonel Gordon of the Highlanders, stopped him with a slight movement of his hand and turned to the convict: “What can you say in your defense, David Potter?”

Boer, who was a whole head taller than his escort artillerymen, who stood on both sides of him with sabers drawn, only shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. Then he turned away from the members of the court and through the triple chain of soldiers lined up with fixed bayonets around the court, directed his clear gaze to where his inconsolable relatives stood.

There, near the farm, a young woman was sobbing, wringing her hands in despair, children were screaming heartbreakingly, the unfortunate parents of the condemned man threatened the conquerors with their weak fists.

And the bright rays of the sun, as if wanting to emphasize this mournful picture, breaking through the bizarre foliage of acacias and giant mimosas, played like light bunnies on the meadow, the grassy waves of which went into the distance inaccessible to the eye.

Here he lived, loved, suffered and fought until his last day.

For a moment his gaze was clouded with a tear of tenderness, but it was immediately dried up by anger.

You condemned me for defending the freedom and independence of my homeland... Well! You are stronger - kill me!

We are judges, not murderers! - the chairman interrupted him indignantly. - You Boers are waging a dishonorable war, unworthy of civilized people... War also has its own laws, and we judge you by these laws.

Do you think this is a fair war when ten, fifteen, twenty people attack one? - cried the burgher.

We fight with our visor open with our weapons. And we do not judge those who fight us with the same weapons. And resorting to poison is vile,” the colonel continued. - Today you poison horses, tomorrow you will take on people... This deserves severe punishment.

Boer, who did not understand such subtleties, objected angrily:

I acted as a patriot who destroys everything that serves the war: people, livestock, war materials. And you won't be able to explain it to me; why is it honorable to kill people with a gun, but poisoning horses with poison is vile? “You won’t get any sense from this animal,” the captain muttered again, deep down confused by the peasant’s naive logic.

The hearing is over! - the chairman intervened imperiously. - David Potter, prepare to die.

And I don't ask for mercy. If you had left me alive, I would have started doing the same again. But I will be avenged!.. Yes, cruelly avenged! Shed my blood Let it flow like a river!.. The blood of martyrs for independence is the dew that feeds freedom!

- “The condemned person will dig his own grave. The sentence will be carried out by a platoon of twelve people. The sergeant will load the guns. Moreover, only six of them should be loaded with live ammunition, the rest - with blanks.”

Hearing this strange paragraph of the sentence, the condemned man burst into laughter, which sounded terribly at such a moment.

Ha! Ha! Ha!.. I understand... I was once told about this, but I must admit, I didn’t believe it! - exclaimed the burgher. -Are you afraid that the soldiers will become victims of revenge for those executed? And you hope to ward off this revenge from them with such a trick? Do you think that if a soldier killing a patriot himself does not know whether his gun is loaded with a live cartridge or not, then others will not even find out?.. Fools! The soldiers have nothing to fear: my revenge will not fall on the heads of these unwitting accomplices in your crime. It will overtake you... yes, only you, the so-called judges, the true and only culprits. There are five of you, you are strong and healthy, behind you is an English army of two hundred thousand people - and still revenge will strike all five of you, and you will die an evil death, because I condemn you to it - I, doomed to death, The Chairman stood up and said dispassionately:

We judge by law and conscience, and your threats do not affect us. By law, you are not allowed to communicate with people, but out of love for humanity, I allow you to say goodbye to your family.

At his sign, the triple chain of soldiers opened. The grief-stricken relatives of the condemned man burst through the resulting passage.

There are about thirty of them; David's wife is in front. Beside herself with grief, she throws herself on the chest of her beloved and faithful companion in her life and frantically squeezes him in her arms. She is unable to utter a word, killed by the inevitability of a terrible disaster.

Near her is a handsome young man. He is wearing a hunting suit of excellent cut, the elegance of which, so sharply different from the modest clothing of the Boers, aroused the curiosity of the British.

A sad smile lit up the convict’s face at the sight of the young man.

David!.. My good, kind David!.. This is how we happened to meet! - exclaimed the young man.

You.? Is it really you, my dear boy?.. How happy I am!.. You see, they grabbed me - this is the end... I won’t see the triumph of our freedom and independence.

Wait to despair!.. I’ll try to talk to them,” said the young man.

He approached the members of the military court who were about to leave. Taking off his hat, but without losing his self-esteem, he turned to the chairman:

I beg you, my lord, order a stay of execution... Take pity on this unfortunate woman, on the children, on this man, whose actions were guided only by a noble sense of patriotism. You are the sons of a great, strong nation, be generous!

“I’m very sorry,” the colonel replied, saluting with a gloved hand, “but I

Louis Boussenard, a famous French author of adventure novels, was a younger contemporary of Jules Verne. And although Boussenard’s novels are inferior to the works of the great Jules, at the beginning of the 20th century they had equal competition. The most popular works in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, are the novels of Louis Boussenard and books about the famous detective Nat Pinkerton. Of course, these are works that today would be called mass popular literature and they have the disadvantages inherent in this genre. The main shortcomings are the unreality (even fabulousness) of the plot and the primitiveness of the characters. But no one expects depth of characters and thoughts from mass literature. It is designed to entertain and Louis Boussenard does a wonderful job with this.

The most famous novel by Louis Boussenard, “Captain Rip-Off,” has been published many times and is still a favorite children’s book for many. What is the secret of the popularity of this largely far-fetched novel? Let's figure it out.

The action of the novel "Captain Rip-off" takes place in South Africa during the Boer War of 1899-1902. Now few people remember about this war, although it was the first war of the 20th century and many deadly new military equipment began to be used in it for the first time (machine guns, armored trains, barbed wire, concentration camps appeared for the first time, into which civilians were herded). The fact is that at the end of the 19th century, rich diamond deposits were found in southern Africa, many of them ended up on the territory of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Republic, founded by Dutch settlers at the beginning of the 19th century. The Dutch in Africa were called Boers (from the Dutch word "buren" - peasant farmer). The most powerful British Empire at that time could not calmly watch how some drills were mining diamonds under its nose, and decided to seize their states and take away their diamond mines. Thus began the Anglo-Boer War. Such open aggression of England towards small independent republics caused protests in the world; volunteers from many countries went to help the Boers: France, Russia, Austria, etc. The war was very bloody and cruel. This war showed for the first time what wars would be like in the 20th century. The Boers had no chance against the entire might of the British Empire, the forces were too unequal, and in addition, the British actively used all the new military equipment, such as machine guns and armored trains. The Boers defended themselves to the last; after their regular armies were defeated, they fought a guerrilla war. Then the British for the first time used the tactics of concentration camps against the Boers: all local civilians were herded into a separate protected area surrounded by barbed wire, forced to live there from hand to mouth and not released until the last pockets of resistance were suppressed.

In the novel “Capinan Rip-Head”, 16-year-old Frenchman Jean Grandier comes to South Africa to fight on the side of the Boers against the British and assembles a military detachment of boys aged 14-16, which he calls the Skins. He is helped by his faithful adjutant, the French 14-year-old boy Fanfan, who is very similar to Gavroche. The Skins, together with their captain, who was nicknamed Rip-off, courageously howl against the British, instilling fear and horror in them. In addition, Rip-Head takes revenge on the English officers who sentenced his friend, the Boer farmer who saved him from death, to death. Rip-off-the-head sends letters with a death sentence to English officers and, together with the Skins and the farmer's son Paul, destroys the hated English.

Children, especially boys, always like to read the novel by Louis Boussenard “Capinan Rip-off.” Not everyone will like it for adults. Boussenard's novel is one of those that needs to be read in time, in childhood, only then will it enchant. An adult will immediately be struck by the “fabulousness” and unreality of the events taking place, the far-fetched nature of the plot and the “cardboardness” of the characters. Some boys are intimidating the well-trained and armed British army; each of the inexperienced Molokosov teenagers is able to cope alone with a dozen experienced military men. Capinan Rip-off Jean Grandier is not a person at all, but some kind of mythological figure: at the age of 14 he found gold in the Klondike, alone shot a gang of the most dangerous bandits who tried to take this gold from him, and at the age of 16 he became a millionaire. What can we say about him if he can shoot four Englishmen at once with one bullet? Of course, such a plot and characters can evoke irony in an adult reader. Here you need to remember that Boussenard’s novel is a fairy tale for children and it should be assessed not according to the laws of a realistic novel, but according to the laws of a fairy tale. Children like the novel “Kapinan Rip-Head” because it makes them play war games, makes them feel like heroes who, like Kapinan Rip-Head and his sucker boys, are capable of performing feats and great deeds. This spirit of friendship, boyish brotherhood, thirst for adventure captivates the children in the novel by Louis Boussenard. And there are plenty of adventures in the novel, the plot rushes at full speed: there are daring raids behind enemy lines, and bicycle races, and explosions of armored trains, etc. - you name it. The plot does not let you get bored for a minute. “Captain Rip-Off” is a work that has often been tried to be imitated. Here you can recall the Soviet series of books and films about the “Elusive Avengers”.

Louis Boussenard's novel "Capinan Rip-off" was published in the Nygma edition in the popular "Adventureland" series. The book has a hard, colorful cover with 3D embossing and design, expensive matte coated paper, a clear font, and a bookmark. Illustrations by artist Peter Lyubaev. In the “Adventureland” series, they always carefully choose illustrations and this is pleasing. Pyotr Lyubavev has already illustrated many books in the series (“Two Captains”, “Around the World in Eighty Days”, “Hearts of Three”, etc.) and all the drawings at a very high level. There are many illustrations in the book, they are bright and colorful, allowing the child to immerse himself in the atmosphere of African military adventures. The book's flyleaf shows a map of the fighting in the Boer War.

Dmitry Matsyuk

Louis Boussenard: Captain Rip-off. Artist: Peter Lyubaev. Publishing house Nigma, 2015

Part one
SKINSUCKERS

CHAPTER 1

Death sentence. - Boer and his friend. - Please postpone the execution. - Refusal. - Digging a grave. - Execution. - Tragic scene. - Revenge. - Prickly acacias. - Captain Daredevil. - Chase.

The sergeant, acting as secretary of the court-martial, stood up and in a sharp, dry voice, emphasizing each syllable, began to read the decision he had just scribbled on a piece of paper: “The military court, composed of the regimental council, unanimously decided: David Potter, guilty of poisoning twenty-five horses fourth artillery battery, deserves death. The verdict is final, cannot be appealed and is carried out immediately..."

With the arrogant and contemptuous air of gentlemen forced to perform an unpleasant and boring duty, five members of the court in white helmets, with holsters on their belts, sat on folding chairs, casually holding their sabers with their knees. One of them, a young captain, muttered:

My God!.. So many ceremonies to send some kind of swindler to the next world - a white savage, a rebel, a robber and a murderer!

The chairman of the court, a handsome man in the uniform of a colonel of the Gordon Regiment of Scottish Highlanders, stopping him with a slight movement of his hand, turned to the condemned:

What do you have to say in your defense, David Potter?

Boer, who was head and shoulders taller than the artillery guards who stood on both sides of him with sabers drawn, only shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, turned away and, through a triple cordon of soldiers armed with rifles with fixed bayonets, directed a clear gaze to where they stood near his farm inconsolable family and friends. The young woman sobbed, wringing her hands in despair, the children screamed heartbreakingly, the unfortunate parents of the condemned man threatened the conquerors with weak fists.

Through the bizarre foliage of acacias and giant mimosas, bright rays of the sun broke through and, as if highlighting a picture of great sorrow, they played like light bunnies in the meadow, which stretched out in green waves into the distance inaccessible to the eye.

Here he lived, loved, suffered and fought with enemies.

For a moment, the Boer's gaze was clouded with a tear of tenderness, but it was immediately drained by anger.

You condemned me for fighting for the independence of my homeland... Well, since you are so strong, kill me! - Straightening up, clenching his fists, he answered the colonel in a hoarse voice.

We are judges, not murderers! - the chairman was indignant. - You Boers act dishonestly, unworthy of civilized people. But war has its own laws, by which, by the way, we judge you.

Do you think it’s fair when ten or even twenty people attack one? - cried the burgher.

We fight with our visor raised and do not consider someone who openly comes at us with a weapon in their hands to be a criminal. But resorting to poison is vile! - said the colonel. - Today you poison horses, and tomorrow you will get to people. So a harsh sentence is fair retribution for your action.

Bur, not allowing himself to be confused, objected:

As a patriot, I have the right to destroy everything that can be turned against my homeland: people, livestock, military equipment. And you can’t explain to me why it’s permissible to shoot people, but not to poison horses.

Why talk to this lout! - the same captain muttered, although he was confused by the simple logic of the peasant.

The hearing is over! - the chairman interrupted the protracted argument. - David Potter, prepare to die!

I'm ready now! And I will say: if I had been pardoned, I would have taken up what I had done before. But they will avenge me - and cruelly! I am not afraid of death: people like me, with their blood, bring the liberation of our homeland closer!

These words spoken publicly found a lively response in the hearts of the people crowding around the farm.

The sergeant, grunting disapprovingly, resumed reading: “The condemned man himself digs the grave. The execution is carried out by a team of twelve people. The guns are loaded by a sergeant: six with live cartridges, the rest with blanks.”

In response to such a strange decision, the Boer burst out with a chilling laugh:

Ha ha ha!.. I heard about this trick, but I admit, I didn’t believe it! Are you afraid that the soldiers will get revenge for the execution? Do you hope to keep them safe with this trick? You are right about one thing: if the soldier himself does not know what cartridges he is shooting, then others have no idea. But why, fools, such cunning? The soldiers are in no danger anyway: they will take revenge for me not on them, the forced accomplices of the crime, but on you, the organizers of the vile trial, sentenced by me, with one foot in the grave, to death - and not an easy one! Neither one’s own physical strength or dexterity, nor the two hundred thousand strong English army will save anyone from deserved punishment.

The chairman stood up.

“We judge by law and conscience, and it’s not for us to be afraid of threats,” he said dispassionately. - The law does not allow a convicted person to communicate with anyone before execution, however, out of a sense of humanity, I still allow you to say goodbye to your loved ones.

Relatives and friends of the Boer - about thirty of them - squeezed through the open triple chain of soldiers. David's wife, unable to utter a word, frantically squeezed her beloved, faithful life partner in her arms. Next to her was a handsome young man who attracted the attention of the British with his elegantly tailored hunting suit, which differed sharply from the modest clothing of the Boers.

David!.. Dear!.. This is how we happened to meet! - exclaimed the young man.

A sad smile lit up the condemned man’s face:

Is it you, my boy?.. How glad I am!.. You understand, this is the end. I can’t wait for the great day when my homeland will regain freedom!

It’s too early to despair!.. I’ll try to talk to them,” said the young man.

He approached the members of the field court who were about to leave and, taking off his hat, which, however, did not damage his self-esteem, addressed the chairman:

I ask you, my lord, to postpone the execution... Take pity on this unfortunate woman, on the children, on the convict himself, whose actions were guided only by a noble sense of patriotism. You are the sons of an outstanding powerful nation, so be generous!

“I’m very sorry,” the colonel answered, saluting with a gloved hand, “but this is beyond my power.”

We are talking only about a few days! Just wait a week - and I will undertake to obtain a pardon for the unfortunate man.

I can't, young man. The sentence was passed in the name of the law, and we are all its slaves, from Her Majesty the Queen to the last of our boys.

I'll post bail.

Ten thousand francs for each day of delay.

Of all the books by Louis Boussenard, the most famous in Russia is the novel “Captain Daredevil.” Well-written military adventures, a rare topic - the Boer War, dynamics, skirmishes, charismatic characters - all this made the book the most frequently and widely published. One way or another, many people read it. Both in Soviet and post-Soviet times.

But what has been read an order of magnitude less is the first novel about Captain Daredevil, or rather about Jean Grandier. Boussenard originally wrote the novel The Ice Hell. And judging by the role assigned to Jean Grandier in it, one cannot say that the author was thinking of making him the main character of another novel.

This book was written at the very end of the 19th century, in the late nineties. Then the whole world was worried about the Klondike gold rush. Of course, the most famous writer or describer of that fever is Jack London, who himself spent a short time in Alaska. But it turns out that one of the most famous adventure authors, Louis Boussenard, could not avoid this romantic theme.

However, as far as the aging Boussenard was from Alaska, the events in his novel were just as far from realism. If you know London's novels well (something like No Time Waits or Smoke Belew), The Ice Hell might just make you grin condescendingly. Here the characters are still too romantic and idealized, and the everyday life of Alaska is so-so.

The main feature on which the plot rests is also funny. A certain young French scientist Leon Fortin discovers a new element in the periodic table. This metal attracts gold like a magnet attracts iron. Without being carried away by excessive modesty, and not knowing the traditions of naming chemical elements, the guy calls the element by its own name - leonium. Need I say how amusing the scientist finds Boussenaard’s ideas about physics and chemistry?

Anyway. At the same time, a wealthy citizen is murdered. Suspicion falls on Leon Fortin. Self-appointed friends begin to help him. Among them is the Grandier family, the youngest member of which is Jean, the future captain of the Boer army.

Back and forth, the whole company goes to Alaska, where, with the help of leonium, they hope to find mountains of gold. Adventures begin in icy hell. True, for most of the action, hell is not at all icy, because development takes place in the summer.

It is in Alaska that friends encounter the same gang that committed the murder for which Leon Forten is accused. There will be shootouts, chases, sieges, and of course gold - Boussenard's imagination is just off the charts.

However, I would not recommend reading the novel “The Ice Hell” in itself. Naive adventures with cheap intrigue and not very interesting characters. I’m talking about it solely in order to get closer to the topic of a much more worthy work of the novel “Captain Daredevil.”

CAPTAIN DAREDEVIL

But this novel is a real military adventure. True, in today's times, they are more addressed to youth. But an audience that has not lost touch with its childhood may also enjoy reading it.

The main intrigue of the novel revolves around revenge. In the first chapter, a court-martial of five British officers sentences to death a Boer farmer who poisoned English horses. His young son Paul and friend Jean Grandier swore revenge on all five. And then throughout the novel, one way or another they get to everyone.

But how did Jean Grandier end up in Burland? Having mined some gold in the Klondike, and at the same time heard about the struggle that had begun in South Africa, the young Frenchman takes all his funds, buys weapons, recruits supporters and goes to the Transvaal to fight for a just cause. Since he formed the unit himself and at his own expense, he also becomes the captain of this company.

Here we will say a few words about the “just cause”. There is no need to even speculate whether Boussenaard’s sympathies and whether the majority of Europeans are on the side of the Boers. Of course, from Europe this battle between the Boer David and the British Goliath looked very romantic. Added to this was the traditional hostility towards the British and their eternal arrogance.

The insidious and greedy empire put all its forces into action, gathered soldiers from all the colonies and threw them into two tiny, but proud and independent republics - this is how it was seen from afar. Four hundred million people and four hundred thousand troops against only thirty thousand armed farmers - yes, definitely the truth must be on the side of the weak.

Need I say that there was (and is) a different view of the problem? For example, one of the most prominent representatives of the other point of view was Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote The Boer War. Well, okay, you say, “Conan Doyle was still a supporter of colonialism.” And you'll be right. But if you dig deeper into these Boers (which was not done in Europe), a lot of unsightly things will come to light.

So who were the racists among the racists, who carried out systematic genocide of blacks, who suffered (or enjoyed) religious fanaticism, who provoked the British lion as best they could - of course, the Boers. But all these unsightly features of the chosen side are hidden both from Boussenaard and from his readers of the novel “Captain Daredevil.”

What can I say, this is a complicated matter - the Anglo-Boer War. Strictly speaking, there are no white or fluffy ones in it. And the Boers were not even the defending side. However, when the British occupied and destroyed their country, when they began to carry out repressions, the position of the drillophiles became stronger than granite.

The adventures of Captain Daredevil and his closest comrades clearly follow the twists and turns of war. Jean Grandier fights at both Ladysmith and Kimberley. That is, both he and the reader will visit both key points of the first period of the Boer War. Both of the most famous Boer generals, Cronje and Joubert, flash in the frame.

With Cronje's army, Daredevil's company will withdraw to Magersfontein. Here the Boers are surrounded. The British subject them to a week-long systematic artillery bombardment.

After the death of the main Boer field armies, the war did not end, but moved into the phase of the partisan movement. And this will also be reflected on the pages of the book. Raids, attacks, sabotage - today such actions are called terrorism. Well, let them call themselves. When defending the Motherland, all means are good. All.

Very briefly The young and rich Frenchman Jean Grandier voluntarily goes to Africa to help the Boers in the war against the British aggressors, and creates a combat detachment. For his courage, Jean is nicknamed “Captain Rip-Off.”