of 1876; ere summer was over he received an official communication from the Duke of Cambridge, as Commander-in-Chief, informing him that out of 718 candidates he had passed fifth (ranking as second place for a cavalry regiment), and that in consequence of his success he had been gazetted to a second lieutenancy in the 13th Hussars, his commission being ante-dated by two years as a reward for the uniform good work shown in his papers. This was the beginning of Baden-Powell's military career. Within a few days of his receipt of the official communication he was on his way to join his regiment, which at that time was stationed in India. The 13th Hussars, thus suddenly reinforced by this bright and lively young prodigy, prides itself greatly on the fact that it figured in the great affair at Balaklava, when in company with the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, the 1st, 2nd and 6th Dragoons, the 4th, 8th and 11th Hussars, the 17th Lancers, and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, it assisted in performing certain deeds and affairs which have made military critics wonder ever since in more ways than one. It was then known as the 13th Light Dragoons. Like nearly every British regiment it possesses numerous nicknames. It is sometimes called "The Green Dragoons," sometimes "The Ragged Brigade." It has a third nickname in "The Evergreens," a fourth in "The Geraniums," a fifth in "Gardner's Dragoons." These five varying sobriquets are much more pleasant than a sixth--"The Great Runaway Prestonpans"--which seems to imply certain things that one would rather not think of. Its motto is "_Vivet in Æternum_"; its badge a V.R. in a Garter, crowned. When Baden-Powell joined it in India in 1876 it was in command of Sir Baker Russell, a fine soldier who had served through the terrible times of the Indian Mutiny and recently passed through the Ashanti War of 1873.