Colonel Morley. 267 



I was sorry to say good-bye to my old brother officers, 

 as they were kind-hearted, generous fellows, and were 

 very good to me. I liked them " all round," although 

 they did not get on over well together ; but that was 

 less their fault than of the wretched system of the Staff 

 Corps, which decrees that a large portion of a regimental 

 officer's pay is dependent on the nature of the appoint- 

 ment beholds. Hence, if the adjutant dies, is cashiered, 

 or invalided, the quarter-master may probably console 

 himself by the prospect of becoming the Colonel's fac- 

 toUnn, and of receiving an extra ten shillings a day — and 

 so on throughout the entire regiment. It is not " human 

 nature " for men whose only " line " is soldiering, to live 

 together in perfect harmony under such a vicious system. 

 I joined my new regiment at Meerut, and was received 

 with the greatest kindness by Colonel Morley and the 

 other officers, who vied with each other in making me 

 thoroughly at home. I look back on the year I spent 

 with them as one of the happiest of my life. The 

 Colonel, though a strict disciplinarian, was so fond of 

 horses that he could not resist showing some par- 

 tiality — so long as it did not interfere with duty — ta 

 those who shared his own tastes. Whenever the hounds, 

 met, one could always get leave off parade by merely 



