PROMOTION TO COMMAND OF THE GUIDES. 131 



Governor-General saw no reason for allowins; officers 

 on civil employ to rejoin their regiments in the usual 

 manner, and Hodson was "thus spared what would 

 have been a very fatiguing and expensive trip, with 

 very little hope of seeing any fighting." It was not 

 long, however, before his soldierly instincts and 

 aspirations were to be gratified by his appointment 

 to the post he coveted beyond all others. On 

 September 23 he writes from Kussowlie : — 



" Lumsden, my old commandant in the Guides, 

 goes to England next month, and the Governor- 

 General has given me the command which I have 

 coveted so long. It is immense good fortune in 

 every way, both as regards income and distinction. 

 It is accounted the most honourable and arduous 

 command on the frontier, and fills the public eye, as 

 the papers say, more than any other, 



" This at the end of seven years' service is a great 

 thing, especially on such a frontier as Peshawar, at 

 the mouth of the Khaiber Pass. You will agree with 

 me in rejoicing at the opportunities for distinction 

 thus offered to me." 



Mr Thomason congratulated Hodson most sincerely 

 on the new career thus opened before him. " I have 

 never ceased to reproach myself for advising you to 

 leave the corps, but now that you have the com- 

 mand, you will be all the better for the dose of civ- 

 ilianism that has been intermediately administered 

 to you." 



Meanwhile he had taken his wife up to Simla for 

 change of air and medical advice. " She is now 

 quite well," he writes, "and rejoices in the prospect 

 of Peshawar almost as much as I do. . . . There is 

 a beautiful hill station near Rawal Pindi, where she 



