There was no demonstration made; only-a colonel said, "I like things done that way, quickly, without fuss," and a brigadier remarked, "Hrrrumph! 'Gratulate you, Mr.Cunningham!" Later, when they camped again outside Peshawur, a reward of three thousand rupees that had been offered on the border outlaw's head was paid to Cunningham in person--a very appreciable sum to a subaltern, whose pay is barely sufficient for his mess bills.

So, although no public comment was made on the matter, it was considered "decent of him" to contribute the whole amount to a pension fund for the dependents of the regiment's dead.
"You know, that's your money," said his Colonel.

"You can keep every anna of it if you choose." "I suppose I needn't be an officer unless I choose ?" suggested Cunningham.
"I don't know, youngster! I can't guess what your troop would do if you tried to desert it!" That was, of course, merely a diplomatic recognition of the fact that Cunningham had done his duty in making his men like him, and was not intended seriously.

Nobody--not even the Brigadier--had any notion that the troop would very shortly have to dispense with its leader's services whether it wanted to or not.
But it so happened that one troop at a time was requisitioned to be ornamental body-guard to such as were entitled to one in the frontier city; and the turn arrived when Cunningham was sent.

None liked the duty.