94 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



in his report of the affair, " was the nature of the 

 country over which he [Lumsden] followed them, 

 that at one time more than half the horses of his 

 troops were down, pursuers and pursued rolling 

 together in desperate strife in the middle of the 

 deep marshes. From thirty to forty of the enemy 

 were killed or mortally wounded, among whom we 

 were able to identify beyond doubt the insurgent 

 leaders, Ganda Singh, and his major, Sukha 

 Singh." ^ The loss of the victors in this dashing 

 affair was confined to one horse killed and one 

 wounded. As a matter of course they received the 

 thanks of the Indian Government. 



A few days later Hodson was again in the field, 

 employed on behalf of General Wheeler in hunting 

 after E-am Singh, who was again trying to raise the 

 hill country north of Jalandhar against its new 

 masters. " I have been day and night at work," 

 he writes, " examining the hills and rivers, trying 

 fords, leading columns, and doing all the multi- 

 farious duties thrust on that unhappy combination 

 of hard work, a 'Guide' and 'Political' in one." 

 The rebel leader was found to be strongly posted on 

 the Dalla mountain. On the 15th Hodson, acting 

 on Wheeler's instructions, led his Guides and a wing 

 of the 3rd Native Infantry up the right bank of the 

 Ravi with a view to recross the river and move uj) 

 to a high peak of the mountain, while two other 

 columns advanced from opposite quarters to the 

 attack. "We had to march," writes Hodson, "by 

 a circuitous route across the hills ; darkness came 

 on, accompanied by dreadful rain, the rivers rose 

 and were impassable, and after twenty-four hours of 



^ Punjab Blue-Book. 



