For to the Indian troops who have come to Europe to fight this war is an adventure, as wars were to the knights of old. The high sense of duty which makes them ready and willing to play their part in the defence of the Empire is not patriotism. It is loyalty, the honourable resolution to stand by the man whose bread they have eaten. In their rudimentary and picturesque way they understand very clearly the origin of the war. They talk among themselves, and write home to their villages of the unjust King of Austria, who sought to steal the kingdom of Serbia, and was therein helped by the arrogant King of Germany, who in his turn invaded the country of the King of Belgium. Hereupon the King-Emperor said, “This must not be,” and summoned the Kings of Germany and Austria to make good the wrong they had accomplished. When they refused, the King-Emperor called upon his friends the Kings of France and Russia to make war upon them. Gleefully the Indians will count the number of Kings that are on the side of the Allies in the cause of right--the King-Emperor, the King of France, the King of Russia, the King of Belgium, the King of Serbia, and, more lately, the King of Italy. Triumphantly they ask: “Shall but three Kings--those of Germany, Austria, and Turkey--prevail against six?” The position of Austria-Hungary is rather a puzzle to them. Sometimes both the King of Austria and the King of Hungary appear on the side of the foe, sometimes the King of Austria is ranged in the ranks of the Allies, owing to a confused recollection that _Australians_ are fighting for the Allies in the East. They write elaborate and often allegorical disquisitions on the origin of the war to their friends at home in India. In one case that I heard of the writer took the names of mutual acquaintances in the village at home in which the first letter corresponded with the initial letter of the names of the belligerent powers, while a dispute about a field served to illustrate the causes of the conflict. The strangest medley of races, castes, and religions that has ever fought on one side in Europe, the Indians took the field in the cause of the King-Emperor behind their hierarchical chiefs and military leaders. The Maharajah of Kapurtala, the Maharajah of Bikanir, the Jam of Nawanagar (whom the Empire knows better as “Ranji”), the Rajah of Ratlam, the young Maharajah of Jodhpur, Maharajah Sir Pertab Singh, the Maharaj-Kumar of Kuch Behar, were among those who came to Flanders. Among the troops were Sikhs from the Punjab, Pathans from the North-Western Frontier of India--Afridis, Mahsuds, Yussufzais, Khattaks--Punjabi Mohammedans, Dogras from the hills, Jats from the Southern Punjab and the United Provinces, Gurkhas from the hills of Nepal, Garhwali hillmen from Garhwal, and Rajputs.