UNDER A CLOUD. 155 



arduous efforts to organise and arrange in concert 

 with his adjutant the economical details of the 

 regiment.^ 



Among Hodson's enemies at this period none of 

 his own household was to be numbered. In the 

 words of his stepson, Major-General Mitford, he was 

 "most kind to his servants, &c. His bearer, Khuda 

 Baksh, was with me for a short time, and was then 

 with my mother till she left India in March 1859. 

 He was then made an inspector of the new Oudh 

 Police, and frequently came to make his salaam and 

 talk of his old master, which he did with the unusual 

 mixture of admiration and affection displayed by all 

 the good natives who ever came under him. His 

 personal orderly, Nihal Singh, is another instance of 

 the loving devotion he inspired. . . . While I was 

 in Hodson's Horse I frequently profited by this. 

 The men never called me anything but Chota Sahib, 

 and it was by that title that they seated me on the 

 Gadi at Amritsar when I was leaving India. It was 

 done in memory of their old leader," ^ 



The illness and death of his little girl marked 

 the beo-innino; of verv troublous times for Hodson 

 himself. In his twofold capacity of soldier and 

 civilian he had done things which brought him into 

 collision with his official chiefs. His zeal for justice 

 upon those who had plotted the death of Mackeson, 

 and the murderous attack on Lieutenant Godby, 

 had led him to seize and imprison a border chief 

 named Khadar Khan, one of whose servants had 

 dealt the blow which cut short Mackeson's career. 



By Hodson's orders Khadar Khan's property was 



1 See chap. x. 



2 Letter from Major-General Mitford. 



