CAMBRIDGE TO GUERNSEY AND TORQUAY. 19 



use Hodson made of this letter we shall see by- 

 and-by. 



On his return to England Hodson duly presented 

 himself at the old India House in Leadenhall Street 

 to take the oath of allegiance to his new masters, 

 and see himself enrolled as a cadet of infantry on 

 the Bengal establishment. This cadetship he had 

 just obtained through the good offices of his 

 father's friend, Sir Robert Inglis, who gave young 

 Hodson the preference over a younger candidate 

 nearly related to himself. "The fact," he wrote, 

 "that my cousin was sixteen, and that your son 

 was twenty-three, decided me ; the one could wait, 

 the other could not ; and now that we have had 

 the great gratification of seeing your son, I am 

 more than ever satisfied. Lady Inglis and myself 

 concur in thinking most favourably of his appear- 

 ance and manner, and augur all things good in 

 reference to his future life." 



He then hastened to join his family at Torquay, 

 whither they had gone for a time on account of 

 his mother's failing health. After some happy 

 weeks spent among his own people, amidst the 

 wooded hills and green pastures that border the 

 white beaches and blue seas of South Devon, he 

 proceeded in company with his brother George to 

 Southampton, where he embarked on board the 

 Seringapatam, the ship that was to bear him round 

 the Cape, to the scene of his future achievements 

 and early death. 



fate of Sind, and Sir Charles Napier became governor of the province 

 which he had virtually conquered. 



