338 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



quietly, without a struggle ; he merely ceased to 

 breathe." 



William Hodson died within a week of entering 

 on his thirty-eighth year. The faithful Nihal Singh 

 wept long and bitterl}^ over his master's body. 

 Many of his troopers cried like children over their 

 dead hero, whom they had loved and worshipped 

 as their ideal of perfect soldiership, the model 

 captain of light horse, the matchless swordsman, 

 the wise yet daring counsellor, the born leader of 

 men who would have followed him anywhither to 

 the death. 



On the morning of his death Captain Wilkinson 

 was riding towards the camp of Hodson's Horse 

 when he met one of the Gough brothers, who, 

 " with tears streaming from his eyes," told him 

 of their common loss. " He pointed out the place 

 where he was lying, and on my hurrying there 

 the doctors were engaged in examining his wound. 

 . . . As I mourniully gazed on his poor lifeless 

 form I could not ].?lp contrasting 'the languor of 

 the placid cheek' with the animation and energy 

 and manly vigour that had lit up his handsome and 

 refined features only a few brief hours before, when 

 he was in the zenith of his renown." ^ 



On the evening of March 12 his body was buried 

 in the garden of the Martiniere, at the foot of a 

 clump of bamboos. Conspicuous among those who 

 stood beside the grave while the Rev. Dr H. Smith 

 read the funeral service were the veteran com- 

 mander-in-chief and all his staff. At the moment 

 when his remains were lowered into the grave Sir 



* The Gemini Generals. 



