FROM DELHI TO UMBALA. 277 



England had set foot on Indian ground. But many- 

 months of hard toil and frequent fighting had yet 

 to elapse before the hydra-headed monster ceased to 

 breathe. A few days after the capture of Bahadur 

 Shah the soldiers of Outram, Havelock, and Neill 

 fought their way at a terrible loss into the be- 

 leaguered Residency of Lucknow. But it was more 

 than two months before Sir Colin Campbell, the 

 new commander-in-chief, could withdraw the rein- 

 forced garrison from their battered defences ; and 

 not until four months later was Lucknow itself, the 

 capital of the province which had so long served as 

 the recruiting- ground for the Bengal army, destined 

 to fall after a severe struggle into the hands of its 

 former masters. 



Meanwhile there was plenty of work in store for 

 Hodson's Horse. On the morning of the 23rd Hod- 

 son came into camp " to see after the march of a 

 detachment of my regiment which is ordered, after 

 half - a - dozen changes, to accompany a movable 

 column which is ordered to proceed towards Agra 

 to-morrow. I am to remain here, and, to tell the 

 truth, the business is so mismanaged that I have 

 ceased to care whether I go or stay. I fancy they 

 find me too useful here. We move down bodily 

 to or near the town to-morrow, and everything is 

 in confusion and bustle." 



To his great delight. Lieutenant Hugh Gough was 

 selected by Hodson to command the wing of his 

 regiment ordered to march with Colonel Greathed's 

 column towards Agra. "Colonel Seaton has given 

 up the prize agency in disgust," writes Hodson on 

 the 26th, " and I refused it altogether : he is tak- 

 ing you a real trophy from Delhi, no less than the 



