310 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



valuables in the way of rings or money found on 

 the persons of the condemned would become the 

 property of the executioner. No one volunteering 

 for the job, the Commissioner asked Jack Brian, a 

 big tall fellow who was the right-hand man of the 

 company, if he would act as executioner. Jack 

 Brian turned round with a look of disgust, saying : 

 ' Wha do ye tak' us for? We of the 93rd enlisted 

 to fight men with arms in their hands. I widna' 

 become yer hangman for all the loot in India ! ' 

 Captain Hodson was standing close by, and hearing 

 the answer, said, ' Well answ^ered, my brave fellow. 

 I wish to shake hands with you,' which he did. 

 Then turning to Captain Dawson, Hodson said : 

 ' I'm sick of work of this kind. I'm glad I'm not 

 on duty ' ; and he mounted his horse and rode off." ^ 



Hodson returned to Fathio;arh on the 12th, "not 

 having effected much, though we frightened many, 

 I have no doubt." "A tedious review" on the 

 next day was followed by an interview and a 

 dinner with his chief. "Nothing," he says, "can 

 be kinder or more cordial than the commander-in- 

 chief and General Mansfield." 



Next morning Hodson's Horse were encamped on 

 the Eamganga, a confluent of the Ganges, on the 

 road to Bareilly. Here Walpole's brigade, to which 

 he was now attached, stood fast for several days, 

 preparing to force the passage of the river into 

 Kohilkhand. " We have enough troops," he writes, 

 "to eat up Rohilkhand ; whether we {i.e., my regi- 

 ment) partake of the ' finish ' in Oudh or not, no 

 one can pretend to foretell." 



Meanwhile the plundering propensities of some of 



^ Forbes-Mitchell's Eeminiscences. 



