42 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



in aa;e and attainments to those of his own standins; 

 in the army might make him the object of envy 

 and disparagement. I felt that he had no easy 

 task before him, and that it would be difficult to 

 conduct himself with discretion and becoming 

 humility in such a position. He was quite aware 

 of the difficulty when we talked the matter over at 

 Agra, and I am much pleased to see the success 

 which has attended his prudent exertions." 



In May of this year, 1846, while the hot winds 

 were blowing their fiercest over the scorched plains 

 below, the 1st Bengal Fusiliers were resting from 

 war's hardships in the cool hill-station of Sabathu, 

 lying nearly half-way on the old road from Kalka 

 up to the lofty wood -crowned heights of Simla. 

 Hodson resolved to reach Sabathu by making his 

 way across the long range of mountains that stretch 

 north-westwards from Naini-Tal. A friendly civilian 

 offered to take him from Bareilly up to Naini-Tal, 

 whence he continued his journey on foot, trusting 

 " that my old powers of walking and endurance will 

 revive in the mountain air." 



But the rainy season, which that year set in 

 early in June, compelled Hodson to change his 

 plans by the time he reached Mussoorie. After 

 a halt of two days at that station, he rode down 

 to Dera Dun, and travelled thence by post through 

 Saharanpur and Umbala to the foot of the Simla 

 hills. At Kalka he mounted his own horse and 

 rode on straight to Sabathu. "Here I am at last," 

 he writes on June 16, "with my own regiment, and 

 with the prospect of being quiet for four months. 

 I am eighth second lieutenant ; a distinguished 

 position, is it not ? at the age of five-and-twenty. 



