the rank of captain in the army by purchase on 17 May 1871, the last year commissions were allowed to be purchased. He volunteered for service in South Africa in the Anglo-Zulu War, where he served gallantly, and was the first man to enter Cetshwayo's kraal after the Battle of Ulundi (1879). That year he conveyed the condolences of the army to the Empress Eugénie on the death of her son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial. Gordon-Cumming was promoted to the regimental rank of captain and the army rank of lieutenant-colonel on 28 July 1880. He went on to serve in Egypt, in the Anglo-Egyptian War (1882) and in the Sudan in the Mahdist War (1884–85), the last of which was with the Guards Camel Regiment in the Desert Column. He was promoted to regimental major on 23 May 1888. He also found time for independent adventure, hunting in the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. and in India, where he would stalk tigers on foot; in 1871 he published an account of his travels in India, Wild Men & Wild Beasts. Scenes in camp and jungle . Royal baccarat scandal In September 1890 Gordon-Cumming was invited, along with Edward, Prince of Wales, to a house party at Tranby Croft in Yorkshire. There he was accused of cheating at baccarat by placing additional counters onto his stake after the hand had finished, but before the stake had been paid—a method of cheating known in casinos as . Gordon-Cumming insisted they had been mistaken, and explained that he played the system of betting, in which if he won a hand with a £5 stake, he would add his winnings to the stake, together with another £5, as the stake for the next hand. In order to avoid a scandal involving the prince, he gave way to pressure from the attendant royal courtiers to sign a statement undertaking never to play cards again in return for a pledge that no-one present would speak of the incident again. Despite the pledge of silence, rumours of the incident began to circulate and were brought to Gordon-Cumming's attention. In an attempt to scotch the rumours, he demanded a retraction from five of the house party; with no withdrawal forthcoming, on 6 February 1891, Gordon-Cumming issued writs for slander against the five, claiming £5,000 against each of them. The trial opened on 1 June 1891 and entry to the