During his short visit the sky was clear but a biting cold wind chilled us all, and no doubt this, combined with his insistence in pulling up and alighting at each spot where representatives of every Indian battalion and Cavalry regiment of the Corps (straight from the trenches) were collected along the route, helped to bring on the fatal illness which immediately followed. During the motor journey I was able to give him an account of our doings and to answer numerous questions he put to me. I also had the great benefit of his advice on some important disciplinary points, on which I would have consulted no man except him, and on which no one else could have formed so sound and just an opinion. At Locon he stopped about half an hour, talking to General Anderson and his Staff and inspecting the few troops present. His pleasure was manifest when he met his old comrade Sir Partab Singh and also the Maharaja of Bikanir and the young Prince of Jodhpore and others from India. Here he addressed the troops in a few words, bidding us do our duty and saying he would keenly follow our fortunes. His last words were, “The fame of your doings will live for ever in India.” Passing on to the Headquarters of the Lahore Division, he saw General Watkis and his Staff drawn up in the Square at Estaires, and spoke for some time to an Indian officer who had served with him. He also saw General Wadeson and officers and men of the Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade. Not the least touching part of his visit was the fact that he was followed by another car, in which travelled one of his daughters, the guardian angel of his last hours. The Indian officer to whom he had just spoken said after he had left, “Sahib, the English are a great race. Brave men, brave women. Peace or war they always hold fast together. The victory is already yours.” As I gave him my last salute and the hurrahs of the troops ceased, I felt the Indian Corps had a friend who was the lodestar which would guide us on our path of duty and that his visit had increased our strength. And only two days later the great Field-Marshal passed away. An honoured guard of Indian soldiers watched over the house where rested his body, and England had lost one of her most precious possessions and the Army of India its truest friend. Most of the Indian Princes and Chiefs in France crossed to England and attended the funeral, and, to show how heartfelt was the sorrow of our Allies, I received letters the very next day from General de Maud’huy, commanding the Xth Army, and General Maistre, commanding the XXIst Corps d’Armée, who were on our right, deploring the great loss our country, and more especially the Indian Corps, had suffered. He will not be forgotten “while memory holds a seat in this distracted globe.”