He gave me the not too pleasing news that by staying in that dreary hotel, instead of proceeding direct to Dum-Dum, I had lost a day's service and pay, so I took care to join early the following morning.
A few years before, Dum-Dum had been a large military station, but the annexation of the Punjab, and the necessity for maintaining a considerable force in northern India, had greatly reduced the garrison.

Even the small force that remained had embarked for Burma before my arrival, so that, instead of a large, cheery mess party, to which I had been looking forward, I sat down to dinner with only one other subaltern.
No time was lost in appointing me to a Native Field Battery, and I was put through the usual laboratory course as a commencement to my duties.

The life was dull in the extreme, the only variety being an occasional week in Fort William, where my sole duty was to superintend the firing of salutes.

Nor was there much in my surroundings to compensate for the prosaic nature of my work.

Fort William was not then what it has since become--one of the healthiest stations in India.