Abyssinian Expedition were published, my name appeared for a brevet
Lieutenant-Colonelcy.

I was now anxious to ascertain in what manner I was to be employed. My
five years as A.Q.M.G. were about to expire, and I thought I should
like to go back to my regiment for a time. I therefore applied for the
command of a battery of Horse Artillery. I was told, in answer to my
application, that it was not the custom to appoint an officer who had
been in staff employment for some time to the mounted branch, but
that, in consideration of my services, the Duke of Cambridge was
pleased to make an exception in my favour. I was posted to a battery
at Meerut, and warned to be ready to start in an early troopship.
Before the time for our departure arrived, however, I received a
letter from Lumsden, who had now become Quartermaster-General,
informing me that the Commander-in-Chief had recommended, and the
Government had approved of, the formation of a fresh grade--that of
First A.Q.M.G.--and that he was directed by Sir William Mansfield to
offer the new appointment to me--an offer which I gratefully accepted;
for though the command of a Horse Artillery battery would have been
most congenial, this unexpected chance of five years' further staff
employ was too good to be refused.

On the 4th January, 1869, having said good-bye to those dear to us,
two of whom I was never to see again, my wife and I, with a baby girl
who was born the previous July, embarked at Portsmouth on board the
s.s. _Helvetia_, which had been taken up for the conveyance of troops
to Bombay, the vessel of the Royal Navy in which we were to have
sailed having suddenly broken down. The _Helvetia_ proved most
unsuitable as a transport, and uncomfortable to the last degree for
passengers, besides which it blew a gale the whole way to Alexandria.
We were all horribly ill, and our child caught a fatal cold. We
thoroughly appreciated a change at Suez to the Indian trooper, the
_Malabar_, where everything possible was done for our comfort by our
kind captain (Rich, R.N.), and, indeed, by everyone on board; but,
alas! our beautiful little girl never recovered the cruel experience
of the _Helvetia_, and we had the terrible grief of losing her soon
after we passed Aden. She was buried at sea.

It was a very sad journey after that. There were several nice, kind
people amongst our fellow-passengers; but life on board ship at such
a time, surrounded by absolute strangers, was a t