This was Lumsden’s last fight at the head of the Guides.  Now a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Companion of the Bath, his promotion was assured, and it came with his transfer to the command of the Hyderabad contingent, with the rank of Brigadier-General.  This fine soldier from the raising of the corps in 1846 had held command of it for sixteen years; the brightest example of what a brave, chivalrous, and resourceful leader should be.  Commanders of regiments come and go, and few leave their mark; but over the Guides the influence of Lumsden still burns bright and clear.  To be alert and ready; to rise equal to the occasion, be the call small or great; to be not easily taken aback in a sudden emergency; to be a genial comrade and a good sportsman,—­such are the simple soldier maxims left to his comrades by one of the best soldiers who ever drew sword.

The extraordinary devotion felt for Lumsden by the rude warriors whom he had enlisted and trained to war was somewhat pathetically, if quaintly, illustrated by an incident that occurred not long before he left.  Sir John Lawrence, then Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, had been round to inspect the Guides, for in those days they were not under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, but directly under the Civil Government.  Something in the course of the day had occurred to put Sir John Lawrence out of humour, and he was at all times a man of blunt speech.  Whatever it was, it temporarily annoyed Lumsden, and quite unwittingly this became evident to the faithful fellows who were ready to charge into hell-fire at his order.  It was a mere passing cloud, for the cheery bright-hearted Lumsden was no man to brood over small matters of this sort.  As, however, he sat out under the stars smoking his last pipe, he became aware of a figure in the background, and turning round saw one of his orderlies respectfully standing at attention.

“Hullo!  What’s up?” asked Lumsden.

“It is only this,” replied the orderly, one of the rough warriors who took orders only from his own sahibs, and cared not a jot for any other man, black or white.  “It is only this, Sahib:  I and my comrades noticed that the Lord Sahib spoke to-day words that were not pleasing to your Excellency, and that you were angry and displeased when you heard them.  So we have consulted together as to how best we may serve the proper end; for it is not right and proper that we should allow our Colonel Sahib to be harshly spoken to by anyone.  There is, therefore, this alternative:  the Lord Sahib has arranged to leave by the straight road to-morrow morning for Peshawur, but with your honour’s kind permission, and by the Grace of God, there is no reason whatever why he should ever reach it.”  That man thoroughly meant what he said, and to this day the same touching devotion of the men to their officers, though perhaps less bluntly expressed, is still one of the characteristics of the Guides.