306 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



fact that many of the spies who carried letters from 

 one or another of the columns moving along the 

 Doab were either killed by the way or failed to 

 reach their destination. 



It was fortunate also for Hodson that the rebels 

 had refrained from attacking him on his first ride 

 throuojh Chibramau. " We rode in at one end of 

 Chibramau in the morning," says M'Dowell, "they 

 rode in at the other. They saw us, but we did not 

 see them, as we were on unfavourable ground. 

 Thinking we were the advanced guard of our 

 column, they retired hastily to a village some two 

 koss off. Meanwhile Hodson and I, unconscious of 

 their vicinity, rode on. They sent out scouts and 

 ascertained that only twenty -five of our sowars 

 were in the village, upon which they resumed their 

 march, sending a party to cut up our men, and, I 

 suppose, to wait for our return." 



In a hurried letter to his wife on New Year's 

 Day of 1858 Hodson writes : "M'Dowell wrote you 

 a capital account of our expedition to Miran-ke- 

 Serai, which you will get before this reaches you. 

 He is game to the backbone, but he has not the 

 physical stamina for such an adventure as that. I 

 am sorry to say I lost three of my men killed and 

 four wounded, and my horse, saddle, and bridle 

 (English) were lost. I wish you could coax Cap- 

 tain Swinton out of that horse he got of General 

 Anson's : life, and more than life, sometimes depends 

 on being well mounted." 



It is pleasant to know that the faithful fakeer, 

 whose timely information had saved the two officers 

 from almost certain death, was handsomely rewarded, 

 and obtained a post in the public service. 



