wreck, – bumped about during a whole night, and was eventually so damaged that she was afterwards condemned, and never went another voyage. An awful night of peril and suspense was passed – necessarily a crucial test of pluck and character, death staring all in the face. The young Adjutant on this trying occasion manifested the coolness and courage which were afterwards so prominently shown in his career.
On its arrival in India, the regiment was stationed in the Kohilcund district – one of the finest in that country for sport. Here it remained four years in different stations – Bareilly, Shahjehanpore, Moradabad. In the immediate neighbourhood is found the best of wild-duck, snipe, and other shooting; while a night's dâk places one on the skirts of the "terai," the grandest field in the world for shikar.
The 37th was at that time a young and very sporting regiment, and it had the good fortune to be commanded by a colonel who was second to none in the use of the rifle and the rod, and the keenest of all in every manly exercise. Under these auspicious circumstances, it is not surprising that the officers made the most of this elysium of the shikari. Tiger-shooting and other sporting-parties were frequently organised; and Stewart was one of the most ardent and indefatigable of sportsmen.
Many men, after the novelty of killing their first tiger, find a certain tameness in this form of sport, and Stewart went in with perhaps more zest for the wild life and difficult stalking of the Himalayas and Thibet. In the latter elevated and treeless country the necessary hard work tells severely on the constitution; and only the most robust and enthusiastic of stalkers are likely to meet with success. It showed a good deal of determination and self-reliance for a "grif" fresh from England, with little knowledge of the country, or the language, ways, and manners of the natives, to start alone across these lofty mountain-ranges, and make double marches in order to catch up his Colonel, who had preceded him eight or ten days. This Stewart accomplished; and the party afterwards crossing the snowy range at the Niti Pass, made a most successful six months' trip to Thibet, returning with many trophies of Ovis ammon, burrel, &c. A similar expedition was undertaken from Cashmere by the same party in 1871, when a famous bag was made. These journeys entail very severe exertion, long and difficult marches on foot, and many days must often be passed without a sign of game or the chance of firing a shot.
Promoted to Captain in 1868, and proceeding on leave to Simla, Stewart was selected by General X— as his aide-de-camp. Many officers and civilians who were in Bengal at the time, will recollect him well in that position, and how people were sometimes heard to speak of "Stewart and his General"! We next find him employed in the Quartermaster-General's department in the camp of exercise at Delhi; and afterwards in the same capacity at Meean Meer. Whilst there, the 37th arrived, and in about a fortnight lost, by an outbreak of cholera, over one hundred lives. The recognised best plan of action in such an emergency is to move the stricken regiment (if possible, across a river), and in every way try to keep up the spirits of the men by games, music, &c. – anything, in fact, to prevent the mind from dwelling on the terrible position.
Stewart's character came out
