He told me that the Quartermaster-General wished to keep me in his department.
So, after visiting General Chamberlain,[3] who I knew would be anxious to hear all that had been going on in the Movable Column since his departure, I made my way to Colonel Becher, whom I found suffering from the severe wound he had received a few days before, and asked him what was to be my fate.

He replied that the question had been raised of appointing an officer to help the Assistant-Adjutant-General of the Delhi Field Force, who found it impossible to carry on the daily increasing work single-handed, and that Chamberlain had thought of me for this post.

Had Chamberlain's wish been carried out my career might have been quite changed, but while he was discussing the question with Sir Henry Barnard, Donald Stewart unexpectedly arrived in camp.
I was waiting outside Sir Henry Barnard's tent, anxious to hear what decision had been come to, when two men rode up, both looking greatly fatigued and half starved; one of them being Stewart.

He told me they had had a most adventurous ride; but before waiting to hear his story,[4] I asked Norman to suggest Stewart for the new appointment--a case of one word for Stewart and two for myself, I am afraid, for I had set my heart on returning to the Quartermaster-General's department.

And so it was settled, to our mutual satisfaction, Stewart becoming the D.A.A.G.