INTRODUCTION. 1 9 



expiration of the year granted, I got three extensions 

 of six months at a time bringing my total leave up 

 to two and a half years. This period was almost 

 entirely given up- to sport of some kind, such as 

 salmon, sea, and brown trout-fishing, and shooting, 

 the fresh air thus obtained — coupled with an excel- 

 lent patent remedy recommended to me by a friend 

 for indigestion — set me on my legs, and I went out 

 to India aofain in the cold weather of 1880. 



In 1882 I was appointed to the ist Bombay 

 Grenadiers, stationed at Mhow, as second in com- 

 mand, to fill the place of Lieut. -Colonel Henslowe, 

 who had been shot by a native soldier who had 

 "run amuck." This regiment was one of the un- 

 fortunate ones which, like the 66th Berkshire 

 Regiment, was almost annihilated in the disaster 

 which occurred at the battle of Maiwand under the 

 command of General Burrows during the second 

 phase of the Afghan war. When I joined, it was 

 almost entirely composed of raw recruits, and there 

 being no old soldiers left to give the men stability 

 or discipline an unusual amount of leniency, tact, 

 and judgment was required in dealing with them. I 

 must say I rather resented being sent off in what 

 seemed to me an unreasonable sort of way at a 

 moment's notice, so to speak, putting me to a lot of 

 expense ; but being told that I must take it as a 

 compliment, having been selected out of a list 

 of officers by the Commander-in-Chief himself, 

 especially for tact, I was reconciled. It's difficult to 

 write about one's self without appearing to be 



