20 INTRODUCTION. 



eofotistical, but what I state here is nevertheless 

 true. 



After a short period with the ist Bombay Grena- 

 diers, I was transferred back again to the Marine 

 BattaHon in Bombay as commander of the left -half 

 battalion. In March, 1885, all officers were recalled 

 from furlough in England, general leave in India, 

 etc., and had to be medically examined as to fitness 

 for active service, as it was believed we should be 

 involved in a war with Russia over the Penjdeh 

 affair in Afghanistan. So near was it considered to 

 be that most married officers sold their furniture and 

 sent their wives home. The regimental transport 

 and commissariat supplies for the ist Army Corps of 

 60,000 troops were in readiness to start at the 

 proverbial " moment's notice," but the war, as every- 

 one knows, never came off, mainly owing, I think, to 

 the sagacity and foresight of the then Governor- 

 General, Earl Dufferin. In October, 1885, I was 

 gazetted as second in command of the 9th Bombay 

 N.I. under orders for Aden. This was one of the 

 two reg-iments sent from India to Malta when the 

 Earl of Beaconsfield, as Prime Minister, wished to 

 show the Russians — at the time they were threaten- 

 ing Constantinople in the Russo-Turkish War of 

 1877 — that we not only had the English Army to 

 rely upon, but also the Indian forces, who were loyal 

 and true. 



We embarked for Aden in a troopship in 

 December, arriving towards the end of the month. 

 We were quartered in what is called the Crater, 



