General Wauchope joined the transport _Aurania_ at Southampton on 23rd October, and some of his letters written on the eve of embarkation are touching illustrations of kindly interest in others, and specially in those { 180} dependent on him. To his old friend and colonel in the first Soudan Expedition, Colonel Bayly, he writes:--
'MY DEAR OLD COLONEL,--Many thanks for your kind and affectionate letter. I wish you were going out in charge of the brigade. I shall sadly miss your wise counsels. Well, I will do my best; and this I know, whether I succeed or fail, you will stick up for me.--Yours ever, A. G. WAUCHOPE.'
To Mr. Martin, the manager of the Niddrie Collieries, he wrote as follows:--
'I am just about to embark. Please go and see Mrs. Wauchope when she gets back. She will act for me at all times in my spirit. I hope you understand about the send-off. I hate fuss. Give my love to all my numerous friends in the works. I hope "Klondyke" [one of the new workings] will prosper and flourish. I hope the war will soon be over. Symons is a terrible loss. He was one of our best. [General Symons fell at the battle of Glencoe in Natal, 20th October.] The British officer and soldier is showing to the world that they are not behind their fathers in the days of the Peninsula and Waterloo. I hope all may continue so to do, and then make it up with the Boers, who really must be reasonable. We have no grudge against them, beyond that we cannot allow a Dutchman to be worth three Scotsmen.--Ever yours, A. G. WAUCHOPE.'
To his head gardener, Mr. Alexander, also dated from Southampton on 23rd October, he writes:--'Dear Alexander, we are just off.... Please convey to all our men and women my thanks for their faithful service to me, and { 181} that I will hope to see them soon again.--Yours very truly, A. G. WAUCHOPE.'
That amid all the bustle of preparing to embark he should still have time for loving thoughts of Niddrie and 'the old folks at home,' and should at the last moment take the trouble to write such kindly words, speaks eloquently of the affection in his breast for all that he had left behind in Scotland.
The _Aurania_ took out with her the 1st Battalion of Highland Light Infantry, and Wauchope was accompanied by Captain Rennie of the Black Watch, as his _aide-de-camp_. The Black Watch in another vessel reached Table Bay two or three days after the General's arrival, and were at once entrained for De-Aar by half-battalions, so that until he joined them a week or two afterwards, the General had had no opportunity of coming in touch with his old regiment since his appointment to the division. Major Duff, who was with the Black Watch at De-Aar, speaks of their meeting as a remarkable one. 'I went up,' he says, 'in command of the leading half-battalion, and when the men first saw the General, their reception of him was a most truly enthusiastic one. They cheered him over and over again, and it reminded one of their send-off to him at York, as they had not seen him since then.'