THE FIRST SIKH WAR. 31 



two last mails have brought me letters from her- 

 self, which is the best possible sign of increasing 

 strength." But the seeming improvement was 

 only a passing rally. About half a year later, 

 while Hodson was staying with his new friend 

 and future benefactor, Colonel Henry Lawrence, 

 his heart was saddened by news of his mother's 

 death. It was a terrible blow to the son, who, in 

 his own words, "had up till the last moment never 

 allowed himself to doubt that he should see her 

 again." No one, he wrote to his sister, " can under- 

 stand the intenseness of hope until they have been 

 separated, as I have, from every one dear to them. 

 . . . Even my father's last letters, which I now 

 wonder did not alarm me at the time, had failed 

 to convey conviction to my mind." The blow 

 seemed all the harder to bear, as it fell upon 

 him while he was staying at Simla "in a house 

 full of people," from whom he had to conceal his 

 grief. 



During the first weeks of 1846, while Gough 

 was awaiting fresh reinforcements with the heavy 

 guns from Delhi, the Sikhs lay idle on their own 

 side of the Satlaj. At length, towards the end of 

 January, a strong Sikh force, under Ranjor Singh, 

 recrossed the river and threatened Ludiana. On 

 January 28 the victory of Aliwal, skilfully won 

 by Sir Harrj^ Smith, sent the enemy flying back 

 across the Satlaj with the loss of fifty-six guns, 

 and relieved our frontier posts from all present 

 danger. Meanwhile a great Sikh army was busily 

 intrenching itself on both sides of the Satlaj about 

 Sobraon and Hariki, and in the very face of the 

 line held by Gough. 



