All around the roadstead were the transports that had brought troops from England. This thrilled Lord William to such an extent he could not wait to begin his fighting for Queen and country--that was to follow--so just to keep his hand in he indulged in a fight on his own account in the hotel at Durban, which was cram-full of officers in every branch of the service. This was fight No. 1, before he had reached head-quarters or reported himself; that time-honoured institution he attended to later. Fight No. 2 was another private affair, between himself and a war correspondent named Mr. Fripps, who made some disparaging remark about General Buller, when Lord William delivered a message he had received orders to convey, and which caused the artist inconvenience. Lord William could not stand this, and said he would not allow anybody to abuse his General, and if they did he would thrash them. Mr. Fripps did not appear the least awed, and suggested when they got back to camp that night they should settle the matter. Amidst the work and excitement of the day Lord William forgot all about the suggested thrashing: not so Mr. Fripps, who turned up before going to bed to see if it was convenient to his lordship to carry out his threat. A fierce encounter ensued, and it was just touch and go who came out on top, when one of Lord William’s arms got rather badly hurt; he wanted to go on fighting with only one arm, but chivalrous Mr. Fripps suggested finishing the fight another day, when he had both arms and it would be fair play. After this they were the best of friends. Now came the official fighting. Lord William had been hoping for some staff appointment. His lucky star being in the ascendant, the wish was gratified almost immediately, as will be gathered from the above narrative, by General Redvers Buller (at that time Colonel Buller) appointing him, with the sanction of Lord Chelmsford, as his staff officer, in the place of Captain the Hon. Ronald Campbell, who had been killed in a recent battle when fighting against 20,000 Zulus. Captain Campbell was a difficult man to follow, and Sir Redvers was rather in despair of finding anyone who could fill his place. General Marshall, who knew Lord William better than most people at that time, hearing he had arrived in the country, hastened to bring him to Sir Redvers’ notice, knowing he would be invaluable. It did not take Lord Bill long to collect his kit and start off on his long journey to join his new Chief up country at Kambula, where he was in command of the irregular Volunteer Cavalry, forming part of Sir Evelyn Wood’s splendid little fighting force, and it was here the Fripps fight already mentioned took place.