194 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



until he had completed his meal. The surrounding 

 company eyed him all this time with, we may say, 

 awestruck countenances. This silence was uninter- 

 rupted until suddenly he put down his knife and fork 

 and said, ' Now I am ready for you.' And then 

 followed the awful recital of what had occurred at 

 Meerut on the evening of May 10, told as only 

 Hodson could tell it. There we sat round him with 

 open eyes until he had finished, when some one said 

 in an inquiring tone, ' Well ? ' as if he had not already 

 heard enough. ' Well,' replied Hodson, ' here we are ; 

 the wires cut north, south, east, and west ; not a soul 

 can interfere with us, we have the cracking of the 

 nut in our own way, and here we are as 'jolly as a 

 bug in a rug ' I This was William Hodson all over. 

 He could not be cheery over the Meerut recital, but 

 the thought that the reversal of that terrible catas- 

 trophe lay with the small band then surrounding 

 him, untrammelled with official routine, was too 

 much for his soldier spirit, and found vent in the 

 above expression. 



" How he did his part history will tell. He was the 

 life and soul of the whole force then marching down 

 to Delhi. As a scout, if he has ever been equalled, 

 he has never been beaten. The Delhi force knew 

 well what a debt they owed to him. 



" I may here remark that I have entered more 

 into detail as regards my own arrival into Karnal 

 solely with a view to showing what tools Hodson had 

 to deal with. To judge from the writings of some, 

 one would think that he had had at his beck and 

 command the metropolitan police and the Irish con- 

 stabulary. No one knew better their failings than 

 did William Hodson, and there is no greater marvel 



