"I hope you will not mind my love of soldiering and work; it has such a fascination for me, I am inclined to put it first always. But my love for you will stand out first, and your love for me will enable me to carry out my work at personal inconvenience to ourselves, won't it? You see I am cunningly trying to get you to overlook my endeavours to think of soldiering as the first thing, but, dear, you will always be in my heart all the time." Perhaps it was by contrast with the slackness natural to the soft climate of Bombay that Gatacre's indomitable spirit attracted so much attention. Colonel James Arnott writes: "Working, as I did, in the Civil Department, I had no official association with your husband, and it was only when he commanded the Bombay District that I got to know him at all well. I was much impressed by his keen interest in his {122} profession, his strong _esprit de corps_, his enthusiasm for work, and the activity and strength which enabled him to carry it on in a way to stimulate others. I have a clear recollection of his active figure and his first-rate horsemanship, riding, as he often used to do, bare-backed, an indication of character and of those qualities so necessary in a soldier. "General Gatacre took his share in everything of public interest in Bombay, but I shall only refer to the very successful Assault-at-Arms which he organised--the first and best thing of the kind that I saw in my long residence in Bombay."[1] [1] September 13, 1909. [Sidenote: The first tournament] This tournament was a great event. The large grass-covered enclosure known as the Oval was borrowed from the Municipality for the purpose of a Grand Naval and Military Display and Assault-at-Arms. This space, flanked on one side by the Town Hall, and on the other open to the sea, offered every facility for such an undertaking. Admiral Kennedy, who was in residence for Christmas, willingly co-operated; his handy men rendered most valuable assistance, the naval element lending a distinction of which only a Bombay Assault-at-Arms could boast. An attractive programme was made out and entries were invited from all the stations in India. It was of course necessary to get subscriptions and guarantees; but the General was already personally acquainted with all the leading men in Bombay, and had no difficulty in {123} getting what he wanted. The Governor and the resident native princes gave their support and patronage, and many wealthy merchants, realising the great local expenditure that such a tamasha must involve, contributed generously. In the friendly relations established with the citizens of Bombay over the multifarious business of this tournament lay the secret of the facility with which Gatacre two years later won them to accept his views about segregation.