Many were the good gallops I enjoyed with his hawks, hunting the _aubara_.[9] Of work there was plenty at Peshawar, for the Brigadier, Sydney Cotton,[10] kept us alive with field days, carefully instilling into us his idea that parade-grounds were simply useful for drill and preliminary instruction, and that as soon as the rudiments of a soldier's education had been learnt, the troops should leave their nursery, and try as far as possible to practise in peace what they would have to do in war.

Sydney Cotton was never tired of explaining that the machinery of war, like all other machinery, should be kept, so to speak, oiled and ready for use.
My dream of a staff appointment was realized more quickly than I had expected.

In the early part of 1856 the Surveyor-General applied for the services of two or three experienced officers to assist in the survey of Kashmir.

Lumsden, the D.A.Q.M.G., was one of those selected for the duty, and I was appointed to officiate for him.

So delighted was I to get my foot on the lowest rung of the staff ladder, that I cheerfully agreed to the condition my Captain insisted upon, that I should perform my regimental duties in addition to the staff work.
Things went merrily with me for a short time, when most unexpectedly my hopes of some day becoming Quartermaster-General of the Army in India were dashed to the ground by the Governor-General refusing to confirm my appointment, because I had not passed the prescribed examination in Hindustani.