28 MAJOR W. HODSOX. 



How the night of the 21st was spent by our 

 tired and famishing soldiers Hodson himself shall 

 tell us. His own regiment was bivouacking beside 

 the Queen's 80th Foot, an old Staffordshire regi- 

 ment, whose ranks still contain many men from 

 that county. " It is a splendid corps," says Hodson, 

 "well-behaved in cantonments, and first-rate in 

 action. I lay between them and the 1st European 

 Bengal Fusiliers [his future regiment] on the night 

 of the 21st of December, when Lord Hardinge 

 called out, ' 80tli ! that gun must be silenced.' " 

 It was a heavy Sikh gun, which was playing havoc 

 with the troops of Gilbert's division, and the 1st 

 Europeans were ordered to support their comrades 

 of the 80th. "They jumped up, formed into line, 

 and advanced through the black ^darkness silently 

 and firmly : gradually we lost the sound of their 

 tread, and anxiously listened for the slightest in- 

 timation of their progress. All was still for five 

 minutes, while they gradually gained the front 

 of the battfery whose fire had caused us so much 

 loss. Suddenly we heard a dropping fire, a blaze 

 of the Sikh cannon followed, then a thrilling; cheer 

 from the 80th, accompanied by a rattling and 

 murderous volley, as they sprang upon the battery 

 and spiked the monster gun. In a few more 

 minutes they moved back quietly, and lay down 

 as before in the cold sand ; but they had left 

 forty-five of their number, and two captains, to 

 mark the scene of their exploit by their graves." 



Soon after daybreak of the 22nd Gough and 

 Hardinsfe — for the latter had waived his rio;ht as 

 Governor-General to the chief command, and con- 

 tented himself with leading the left wing of the 



