Meerut was no exception, and among all the King’s Regiments there was none which looked forward to the war more eagerly and hopefully than the Thirteenth, with its memories of the Peninsula and Waterloo and Balaclava. Some days before war was declared all officers on leave in the country had been urgently recalled, and when on the 5th of August the Regiment learnt from a telegram to the Meerut Club that the sword had been drawn, it was ready for immediate service. On the 9th of August the Meerut Division was ordered to mobilise. Then followed some weeks of anxiety, during which the Thirteenth were alternately elated and cast down by contradictory rumours. Early in September they received orders to prepare a large draft of men and horses for the Eighth Hussars, which threw them into the depths of depression; then they got, but could hardly rely upon, private reports that they were not to be left in India. It was a trying time. Meanwhile it had been raining hard, and this added to the general depression. Polo became impossible, and neither officers nor men had anything to relieve the tedium of waiting. The following extracts from the letters of a junior officer may be worth quoting:-- _Lieutenant G. R. Watson Smyth--August 9-12._--“I do not know whether this letter will ever reach you, or where I shall be if it does. At the present moment we are awaiting the order to mobilise: it is sure to arrive at any moment now if the Regiment is to go on service. We don’t know if it is decided to take the Meerut Cavalry Brigade, but ... it is possible that the infantry of the Division may be taken. Whether they will be taken to garrison Egypt or to fight at home is another matter. As I said, though, we are just waiting for the telegraphic order before we start shoeing our horses and sharpening our swords.... “It is now two and a half hours since we should have got our orders, and I am beginning to fear that we shall not get them.... “I have just gone to the Club, and a wire has come in saying that the Brigade is not for it. Rotten luck.... “The Native Regiments here are in a sort of fever of excitement, and are longing to have a go at somebody.... “Skinner’s Horse are in Meerut with us now. They are an extraordinarily good and very sporting lot.[6] “There has only been one day’s polo for the last month, as all the grounds are under water, and the rain never stopped long enough to let them dry....” [Illustration: DRAFT OF MEN AND HORSES DETAILED FOR THE 8TH HUSSARS SEPTEMBER 1914] [Illustration: THE BAND AT THE LAST CHURCH PARADE BEFORE LEAVING INDIA NOVEMBER 1914]