262 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



were carried with no great loss, and our mortars 

 played incessantly upon the palace and the old 

 Pathan fort of Selimgarh. " Not above 3000 or 

 4000 of the rebel troops remained in the city," 

 wrote Hodson on the 17th. "Headquarters are 

 there, and I am going down immediately to take 

 up my quarters with the staff. ... I am thankful 

 to say Nicholson is a little better to-day, and there 

 appears some hope of his recovery, though a very 

 sliojht one." 



On the following day he wrote : "Poor Nicholson 

 is lying in a terribly dangerous state. I would give 

 a year's pay to know he w^ould recover, so deeply do 

 we feel his loss at a time like this." 



On the evening of the 19th the Burn Bastion, 

 which five days earlier had stayed the advance 

 of Nicholson's stormers, was surprised and captured 

 by a party from the Kabul gate. Early the next 

 morning the Lahore gate and Garstin Bastion were 

 also carried. AVith the bloodless capture of the 

 palace itself the whole city fell that day into our 

 hands. On the same morning (20th) Hope Grant 

 took all his available cavalry on a reconnaissance to 

 the west of the city. Hodson of course accompanied 

 the brigadier, who had strict orders not to go under 

 fire. "We all marched out," he says, "to the top 

 of the hill on which stands the ' Idgarh,' and thence, 

 from a safe and respectful distance, overlooked the 

 camp of the Bareilly and Nasirabad force, under 

 ' General ' Bakht Khan, quondam subadar of 

 artillery." A look through his glass, followed by 

 the sound of a loud explosion, convinced Hodson 

 that the enemy were abandoning their camp. On 

 this fact being confirmed by his own messengers 



