88 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



Hodson dashed at these marauders whenever he got 

 the chance. Before the middle of December, as 

 soon as he had established some kind of order about 

 Dinanagar, he was once more across the Ravi on 

 the track of a rebel party headed by two petty 

 Sikh sirdars, who had been busily plundering the 

 country at the foot of the hills near Sialkot. On 

 the evening of the 15th he learned that some 500 

 of the insurgents were within his reach at Gamrola, 

 near Zafarwal, some twenty-five miles off. There 

 were so many spies in his camp that he allowed 

 his men to turn in as usual for the night. Soon 

 after midnight, however, he aroused his little party 

 and " got them under arms and off before any one 

 was aware of our move. I had with me 100 of my 

 Guides and 15 sowars." 



Marching all night, he came upon the insurgents 

 at daybreak. Halting the Guides under cover of 

 a small wooded village, he himself went forward to 

 reconnoitre, and "found the enemy drawn up to 

 the number of from 150 to 200 horse and foot on 

 the north side of Gamrola, between the village and a 

 large tank." Just then, however, they were joined by 

 a party from Baddi-Pind, and the whole fell back to 

 the bank of a wide nullah which ran along their rear. 

 Besides his fifteen sowars he was now accompanied 

 by a party of Sikh horsemen, of whose fidelity he was 

 more than doubtful. In order at once to get rid of 

 these and mislead the enemy as to the strength of 

 his own party, Hodson instructed them to prevent 

 the enemy from getting into the villages or hiding 

 among the sugar-canes on his fianks. 



He was still awaiting the arrival of his Guide 

 infantry, who w^ere now close at hand. Within 



