216 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



day the figiit went on under a burning sun, which 

 struck down many of our brave countrymen. A 

 prophecy was current among the sepoys that on this 

 day they were destined to overthrow the Faranghi 

 rule. Hodson, of course, was in the saddle nearly 

 all day. His kind old commander, Colonel AVelch- 

 man, " got an ugly wound in the arm, and Dennis 

 was knocked down by the sun, and numbers of the 

 men ; but nothing less than a knock - down blow 

 from sun, sword, or bullet stops a British soldier. 

 How well they fought to - day, and, to do them 

 justice, so did my old Guides and my new Sikhs, 

 while the little Gurkhas vied with any in endurance 

 and courage." 



On the following day Colonel Neville Chamber- 

 lain,^ the new adjutant - general, arrived in camp, 

 having made over to Colonel John Nicholson the 

 command of that movable column which had already 

 been doing good work in the Punjab. His presence, 

 said Hodson, " ought to be worth a thousand men 

 to us." To Sir T. Seaton he was " the right man in 

 the right place, for he always advocated in war bold 

 and energetic measures." 



The great sortie on June 23 might have gone ill 

 with our brave soldiers but for the fact that some of 

 Hodson's native spies had brought him timely warn- 

 ing of the enemy's intended movement. About that 

 time his friend Colonel Seaton, who had also come 

 under the doctor's hands, had daily opportunities of 

 watching the working of the Intelligence Depart- 

 ment. " Spies came in from the city at all times 

 during the day, and in all sorts of disguises, some 

 bearing intelligence by word of mouth, others bring- 



1 Now Field-Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain, G.C.B., &c. 



