At the beginning of the year 1883 I was on my way out to India with Lady Charles in the P. and O. s.s. _Malwa_. Proceeding into Ismailia Lake, the _Malwa_ was rammed by another vessel which tried to cross the _Malwa's_ bows. I was looking over the side of the _Malwa_ and I saw a curious thing. I saw the colliding vessel rebound from the _Malwa_ and strike her again. I ran up to the bridge, where the captain had already given orders to stop the engines. The ship was sinking; it was no time to stand upon ceremony; and I ventured to suggest to the captain that he should put his engines full steam ahead, when he might hope to beach the vessel, whereas if she stayed where she was, she would infallibly go down in deep water. The captain, like a good seaman, gave the order, and the chief engineer carried it into execution with admirable promptitude. I went down into the engine-room and found the water already rising through the foot-plates. As the ship steamed towards the shore, settling down as she went, I stood with Lady Charles on the bridge, telling her that, if the vessel sank, I should throw her overboard--although she could not swim--and should jump in after her. To which she merely replied, "That will be very disagreeable!" The ship was safely beached, though not before the water had risen to my cabin. She was afterwards salved by the help of the Navy. H.M.S. _Carysfort_, commanded by Captain H. F. Stephenson, C.B. (now Admiral Sir Henry F. Stephenson, {210} G.C.V.O., K.C.B., Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod), sent a carpenter and a working party; and they did excellent service in the _Malwa_. Our party went to Cairo, there to await the next steamer. Hicks Pasha and his staff dined with us upon the night before they left Cairo, upon their fatal expedition. Colonel W. Hicks had been appointed by the Khedive chief of the staff of the Army of the Soudan. In the following August he was appointed commander-in-chief. From Cairo he went to Souakim, thence to Berber, and thence to Khartoum. On the 28th April, he fought a successful action on the White Nile, south of Khartoum, in which his Egyptian troops did well. In September, Hicks left Duem with his staff and some 10,000 men and marched into the desert, which swallowed them up. The whole army was exterminated by the Mahdi's dervishes. Gordon said that the Mahdi built with the skulls of the slain a pyramid. I applied for permission to accompany Hicks Pasha, but my old friend Lord Dufferin was determined that I should not go upon that hazardous enterprise. I believe he telegraphed to the Government on the subject. At any rate, he had his way, and so saved my life. In October, before the news of the disaster had reached Cairo, the British Army of Occupation had been reduced from 6700 men to 3000. Subsequently, the British Government proceeded with the policy of abandoning the Soudan, in one phase of which I was to bear my part.