His old shipmate of the _St. George_, Prince Alfred, who had now been created Duke of Edinburgh, and was then serving as captain of one of the warships in the Mediterranean, and afterwards as commander-in-chief of the Malta station, came a good deal in contact with Wauchope at this time. There was a frequent interchange of visits between them. 'The Duke,' says Colonel Bayly, 'had always the greatest regard for Wauchope, calling him, as of old, by his Christian name of Andy, and showing the utmost friendship.' In this way the otherwise tedious routine of garrison duty was considerably lightened. In June 1889, Wauchope was honoured by having conferred upon him by Her Majesty the distinction of Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, in recognition of his splendid services in Egypt. On the 8th August, the battalion of the Black Watch left Malta for Gibraltar in H.M.S. _Himalaya_, and disembarked at the Rock on the 13th, taking up their quarters in the south barracks. The regiment had a prolonged stay of nearly three years at Gibraltar, but during that period Colonel Wauchope, in addition to his being home several times on furlough, had frequent opportunities of making visits in Spain and on the coast of Algiers and Morocco. His actual term of foreign service only extended to February 1891, when he returned to Scotland to take the command of the 2nd Battalion at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow. {108} During his residence at Gibraltar in 1890, he twice over occupied for a time a rather unusual position, being called upon to take command of the garrison. While actually in charge of only a company, he also commanded the battalion owing to the temporary absence of Colonel Gordon on leave. The major-general having been called away at the same time, Wauchope, by virtue of his army seniority, took over the command of the infantry brigade of four regiments as well. None were quicker than himself to see the possibilities of this peculiar situation. As he put it, with a humorous smile--'Now, suppose a man of my company has a complaint to make, and I decide against him, as I probably should: his remedy is to appeal to the officer commanding his regiment, and he gets Andrew Wauchope again to judge the case. His next appeal would be to the general, and again he comes before Andrew Wauchope; but being only human myself, I fear he would find the decision confirmed, and he would go away with the reflection, that it was "Andrew Wauchope all along the line!"' It is needless to say this problematical contingency never arose, and so he was saved from acting in any such triple capacity. {109} CHAPTER VII THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN