Wilson with the Prince of Wales, just when the royal baccarat scandal is unfolding. Unlike in most Flashman stories, he is mainly an observer of the event, simply giving bad advice when asked to. However, in a twist, someone he has known for years unexpectedly turns out to be the most important player in the story. "Flashman and the Tiger" begins in South Africa, with Flashman fleeing from the Battle of Isandlwana in a wagon. After his escape, he meets Tiger Jack Moran about ten miles (16 km) away, and both head to Rorke's Drift and the nightmare that awaits them. Later, at the mention of Flashman's name, Moran says "if I'd only known." Years later, in 1894, Flashman finds out what he meant when Moran blackmails his granddaughter for sex. Moran reveals that he was the cabin boy on Captain John Charity Spring's slave ship Balliol College (see Flash for Freedom!), who was traded to King Gezo of Dahomey as a white slave and has spent much of his adult life avenging himself on the ship's former crew. To save her, Flashman lies in wait for Moran disguised as a drunken tramp, but finds himself in a scene from "The Adventure of the Empty House", and encounters Sherlock Holmes, who has Moran arrested. Watson recognises him, but is "corrected" by Holmes, who produces an entirely incorrect analysis of who the "tramp" is. Characters The Road to Charing Cross Fictional characters Flashman - The hero or anti-hero. Caprice Princess Kralta Rupert Willem von Starnberg Hutton, of the Foreign Office. Historical characters Henri Blowitz - Bohemian journalist. Flashman describes him as "a five-foot butterball with a beaming baby face behind a mighty moustache, innocent blue eyes, bald head, and frightful whiskers a foot long". Ulysses S. Grant - Former U.S. President, he was visiting Europe at the time of the story. Patrice MacMahon - President of the French Third Republic. Flashman is with Grant when he meets with him. Otto von Bismarck - German statesman. Flashman has enough prior experience of him that he avoids another encounter, but still accidentally meets him in Berlin. Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov - Russian statesman. He is the source of most of Blowitz's information about the treaty, through Caprice, who seduces him. Georges Nagelmackers - Head of the Orient Express line. Franz Joseph I of Austria - Emperor of Austria. Flashman saves him from assassination. Elisabeth