During our long stay at Bersiah, we frequently went out on parties of pleasure; and, as I had at this place nothing to do in my official situation, I generally accompanied these little excursions. About Bersiah the country was more fertile and beautiful than any part we had passed through, and we had excellent shooting, from the royal tiger to the royal snipe, without going a mile from camp. Thus we passed our time, living pleasantly enough. At length we found that the Pindarees had ascended another range of ghauts, and concentrated their forces at a place called Beechy Taull. Towards this place we bent our course, the extent of our daily marches being entirely regulated by the information brought in by our spies. Our wild enemy were, for a time, stationary; our marches were more regular; and they actually permitted us to approach them, without moving their quarters; taking care, however, to keep a wide and deep river between them and us, and an almost inaccessible ghaut, from whence they could see such a distance round, that our approach could be observed ten or fifteen miles off. When we were within forty miles of this place, we made a forced march in the morning, some twenty-two miles, through a thick woody country. Having completed this distance, we halted for our cattle and followers; but we started again when the moon rose, intending to surprise them by the following morning's dawn. Our road, however, lay through a dense thick wood, with a deep ditch or ravine every hundred paces, which we had so much difficulty in getting our guns over, that, when the morning dawned, we had not proceeded more than one-half of the distance, though we were in sight of the ghaut, which was about eight miles ahead. In an hour and a half after this, we reached and crossed the river Scend, about two miles from the top of the ghaut.

Our spies, who had just left the camp of the enemy, informed us that they were not encamped on the top of the ghaut, there being no water there, but that they were lying near a large lake of water, about two miles from the ghaut, apparently unconscious of our approach. The general immediately dispatched the 4th regiment of Native Cavalry, under Brigadier-General Newberry, who commanded the whole of the cavalry, with this division, also Cunningham's corps of Local Horse, under the command of Lieutenant W.W. Turner, with two six-pounders, called gallopers, as they would proceed as fast as the regiment could charge. I asked the general's permission to go, and I obtained his consent to act on the staff with Brigadier-General Newberry. The ghaut was high and difficult, being nothing more than a mass of loose stones, by which many of the poor horses broke their knees in getting up. As soon as we were up, we formed an extended line, and moved on slowly, as our horses had then been ten hours saddled, and without food. At the camp described we found a large body drawn up, and we gave them several long shots, and brought some of their spirited steeds and men a pitch lower. We then went off at a good smart gallop; but our long-jaded and hungry horses had but little chance. We soon emerged from the thick wood which surrounded their enormous encampment, and came up with some of them, and cut them up. About a mile to our left, and in our front, we could see tremendous volumes of dust; and, about a mile further on, we began to fall in with the enemy in considerable numbers. Some of them fought well and bravely: indeed, the greatest coward, when his life is at stake, will fight desperately, and this was the case with these marauders; but their struggle was ineffectual. We could see women riding across the country at speed, with one child on their backs, and one before them. Their horses flew along the plain with extraordinary rapidity.

Having gone about four or five miles, some few of the Pindarees formed, and seemed inclined to come to the scratch; but, before we could reach them, their hearts failed them, and they rode off, passing upon the gentlemen with the white faces some unpleasant epithets, which decency forbids me to mention. The declining sun had already dipped his golden beams in the distant lake, and bid us speed while yet he tarried. We had some hours of day remaining, and by the close of the evening we cut up numbers of them. At this time Lieutenant Turner's corps of Local Horse had separated themselves from the 4th Cavalry; and, before it was dark, the brigadier wished them to rejoin him, for the whole of the enemy's baggage was in sight. I was dispatched for the purpose of delivering the general's communications and wishes. When about half way on my road on this duty, I found that a number of straggling Pindarees were prowling about, some of them wounded; and, in riding over the ground again, it was evident to me that we had not been idle. Lieutenant Turner and his corps of Local Horse had also done the state good service. I was riding at speed to deliver my orders, when, from behind a large tree, a Pindaree had the impudence to discharge his matchlock in my very teeth; but the ball missed me. I had before this bent my faithful friend, the 24th Dragoon sabre, nearly double, by striking at the thick cotton-stuffed coats of the Pindarees; but, in the course of the battle, I had seized a large spear of one of the enemy, of which weapon I well knew the use, having been taught by one of the first spearsmen in the country—the zemindar of the elephants during the sieges of Bhurtpore and other places. In the moment of forgetfulness and irritation I threw away my sabre, and was resolved to chastise the Pin for firing at me, in his own way; so I ran at him with the spear laid across the first joint of my left arm, with the butt under my right arm. For a time he parried it, but at last I ran it into his neck, and I rode round him something like a brickmaker's horse going round, and twisted him completely off his horse. He soon fell, and, as I could see some of his comrades coming towards me, I rode off. I then began to regret having parted with my old friend, the twenty-fourther, which had so often stood my friend in the hour of peril; but this is man's ingratitude for services rendered.

I was some time before I could find Lieutenant Turner, the whole of whose troops were engaged when I came up. When I had communicated the brigadier-general's orders, they were reluctantly but promptly obeyed, and we soon joined the 4th Cavalry, agreeably to the general's desire.

Having come up with the enemy's baggage, the night beginning to close in, and our poor steeds being completely done up, we called a halt, to refresh ourselves, and more especially our poor goaded horses, who were so completely exhausted that we could not have proceeded another mile. The baggage of the enemy consisted of horses, ponies, cows, bullocks, goats, sheep, women, old men, and children, with their little all; and that all was nothing more than their wearing-apparel, cooking-things, &c. These people were only followers. None of their families were here, except about a hundred of their wives, mounted on ponies. Round these poor frightened creatures our gallant brigadier, more for their protection from the villagers than for his own gain or security, placed a considerable guard. I was immediately dispatched, with four horsemen, back to the main division of the army, who had encamped on the top of the ghaut, to communicate the purport of our little skirmishes. It was no very pleasant thing to ride over a field of battle, groping my way through the dark with only four men; but, as there was no remedy, it was as well to do it cheerfully. I found the division had taken up the enemy's position above the ghauts, where I arrived in safety, but completely exhausted, as was also my thoroughbred mare. From the time I mounted on the preceding night, it was twenty-four hours, in which time I could not have gone less than eighty miles. From the violent perspiration I was in, and the dust and powder with which I was covered, when General Marshall saw me, he burst into a loud fit of laughter. No poor dustman or sweep in London could have cut a more ridiculous figure; which may account for the impudence of the man who fired at me from behind the tree, who certainly must have taken me for some menial servant who had stolen his master's clothes.

Having communicated my orders, my next object was the care of my faithful horse. She looked the picture of woe, with her head almost down to the ground, and she had lost one of her shoes. I had a groom who prided himself on being a bit of a horse-doctor. My mare was a great favourite with him, and he begged, as a most particular favour, that I would leave the care of her entirely to him. Knowing his skill, I consented, when, to my astonishment, he told my bearer to bring him some warm water and half a bottle of brandy, with a little bran. He mixed the whole together, milk warm, and gave it to the animal, who drank every drop and neighed for more. This dose threw the mare into a violent perspiration, and the groom then set to, with three other men, and rubbed her well down with straw. She had not drank the warm mash long before she lay down on some clean straw, which had been prepared for her. The groom then commenced thumping her with his clenched fists all over, and shampooing her, which she submitted to with apparent pleasure. He then had her shoes removed and her feet pared and washed in warm water, and wisped dry. After this he made her get up, and rubbed her well over with his hands, and in one hour she looked as well as ever. He then gave her another mash, and clothed her for the night, and she slept well. On the following morning she was quite fresh. Having other horses, I gave her a rest; but she was so frisky that I was obliged to mount her before half the march was over.

The main body of the army was not able to reach the cavalry the next day, the distance was so great; nor did they till a late hour on the following day, when the property taken, such as cattle, &c., were sold in the bazaar. On the succeeding day we moved on, but learned that the hunted parties of the Pindarees had fallen into the hands of General Donkin's division, with another portion of their baggage. Thus they were handed from division to division. Such was the judicious plan of the most noble the Marquis of Hastings, that, whichever way these marauders turned, they were sure to fall into the hands of their enemies. Thus harassed, they dispersed, in tens and twenties, all over the country, when the country people took courage and made head against them, and attacked them wherever they could find them; so that, at last, they sought refuge in any little fort that would give them admittance.

Things being in this state, we were directed to proceed against the fort of Dhamoony, a fort belonging to the Nagpore rajah, who had violated his treaty with the company. The keeledar of this fort would not submit to the proposals of the Company, but had received instructions from his refractory master to fight the English while he had a man left. Before we reached the fort, we understood that many of the Pindarees had accepted the offers of the government; numbers had been cut up, and others had flown to their homes, many of them in our provinces. Nothing but small parties could be heard of, and these sought refuge in the woods by day, and travelled towards their homes under cover of the night. Passing over numberless little skirmishes, marches, and countermarches, that would be tedious to detail, I shall leave the other divisions of the army to pursue the Pindarees, and proceed to relate the operations of that division with which my personal services stand connected; previous to which, however, a brief sketch of the character and mode of life of a Pindaree may not be unacceptable.

This predatory wanderer of the East, from the moment of his birth is nursed in the lap of depravity, and is nurtured and fondled in a bosom inured to cruelties and barbarities that would disgrace the wild savage of the interior of benighted Africa. His sire, perhaps, a short moment ere his birth, has imbrued his hands in the blood of innocence, or buried his spear in the bosom of some infant virgin who would not passively submit to his sensual embraces; and, peradventure, bears in his hand some gold or silver ornament torn from her before unpolluted bosom, with which he decks the body of his new-born babe. Should the little urchin be permitted to live, he is schooled in the camp of heartless assassins, mounted on horseback, and well instructed in the system of plunder. Scarcely can the boy lisp his parent's name, ere he is bedizened with his father's spoils. It often happens, however, that these children are not permitted to trouble their parents long, especially should they prove sickly or cross, in which case the father makes little scruple of dispatching them outright. Indeed, by less cruel parents these poor babes are thought but incumbrances to a flying and marauding force, whose motto is rapine, where the arm of resistance dare be put forth. When the boy attains five or six years of age, he bears the blood-stained weapons of his calling, and is schooled in all the intricacy and minutiÆ of their predatory line of life. At the age of from ten to fourteen, he will be found a proficient in all the cruelties which are considered requisite qualities for his profession; and, perhaps, ere he has completed his sixteenth year, rapine and murder mark his youthful career, and he wanders through vast tracts of country unmolested and uncontrolled. The greatest blessing ever bestowed on this great nation, was the annihilation of those immense hordes of Pindarees, in the years 1817 and 1818, under the auspices of the Marquis of Hastings. They generally form themselves into small bodies, some six or seven hundred in number, putting themselves under the direction of the most daring and despotic of their sect, but one who is generally well acquainted with the localities of the country where plunder is to be had. The court paid to this fiend is disgusting beyond description. He is a little king, reigning on the throne of cruelty and bloodshed. These people take up their quarters in towns and in their vicinity, committing every kind of imposition on the poor unprotected inhabitants, against whom, should they prove refractory, in refusing them even the carrying off of their daughters or wives, the most coercive measures are unhesitatingly resorted to. On these occasions murder is not an uncommon event. From the unrepressed excesses of these marauders previous to the Pindaree war, their annual visitations were looked for and expected as a matter of course, but were esteemed by the poor plundered sufferers as a kind of pestilential visitation, which they had no power to avert, though, no doubt, they one and all had the inclination. They never remained long at a place; but, during their short sojourn, they would commit acts that disgrace the name of man, and would deservedly attach to them the designation of brutes and monsters. They are generally well mounted, and equipped in all the tawdry habiliments of the East. They are most debauched and profligate characters, and some of them have four and five women each as followers of their fortunes. These women are excellent horse-women, and can handle the matchlock or sabre with the best of them. They drink, riot, and smoke, the whole night, and bask in the sun during the day. Their weapons generally consist of a long seventeen-feet spear, a matchlock, sabre, and pistols. Their horses, also, are well trained and manageable; but, from a formidable foe they will run like cowards, and hide themselves till the danger is over. Should they be surprised by any British force, they will run, and on the road plunder one another; which sometimes is attended with bloodshed. These people seldom marry, but live together as long as they like one another, and no longer. From the debauched habits of both sexes, they are not long-lived. They make use of opium in large quantities. It is generally used by them as a stimulus to rouse their languid spirits to a state of hilarity. I have seen some of the women in a most piteous state, from having taken this drug too freely; so stupefied that they could not articulate a word.

These were the people that the government of India wisely annihilated, in the years 1817 and 1818. "In the destruction," says Sir John Malcolm, "of this predatory system, which was converting the finest provinces into a wilderness, the British government has performed a splendid act of justice, policy, and humanity, which fairly entitles it to be regarded as a conservative and beneficent power, whose supremacy has been the deliverance of the people. That system was the baleful dregs of the exhausted military establishment of the Mohammedan dynasties; and it succeeded to the wars of Aurungzebe, like pestilence after famine, rioting in the exhaustion of the country."

After a long and tedious march, we reached the fort of Dhamoony. The rightful and proper owner of this extraordinary fort was the rajah of Nagpore. He had, but a short period before, been placed on the throne—so termed by the Indians—that is, in possession of his inheritance, and acknowledged by the British government as the rightful possessor, and their ally, and protected and guarded in quiet dominion, when he suddenly entered into a league with the peishwah of Poonah, to destroy the English, in violation of good faith, and to the disregard of a most solemn treaty. When the Company were guarding and protecting this treacherous rajah, he was harbouring in his bosom a plot of the most base ingratitude. Such had been the secrecy with which he carried on his intrigues with the peishwah, that a little band of British troops was completely surrounded by fifty or sixty thousand horse, before the Company were aware of his diabolical treachery. Our troops, in this desperate situation, consisted of one regiment of native infantry, and a few troops of the 5th regiment of Bengal native cavalry, in all not seven hundred men, with, I believe, two six-pounders, against fifty or sixty thousand! What was to be done? To stand and be shot at would have been the height of folly and madness; nor could they, under such heavy fire and force, hope to reach any other place of safety. Captain Fitzgerald, commanding, or second in command of the 6th cavalry, proposed charging the enemy, and selling their lives as dearly as possible, declaring that, if he could gain a small eminence on which they had a few guns, he should not despair of keeping them off and saving their lives. In this proposal he was seconded by Mr. Jenkins, the British resident at the court of Nagpore. The brave soldiers one and all consented, and, sword in hand, on they galloped, and actually cut their way through that immense mass of horsemen; in time gained the hill; took their guns, and turned them upon the enemy; and there maintained their post till reinforcements arrived. This piece of gallantry saved the lives of all the party, and places on the brows of that brave corps laurels that never can fade—honours of which the iron hand of time cannot rob them. I have frequently met the officer who commanded on this occasion (Captain Fitzgerald) in company, and it is difficult to offend him more than by mentioning this Nagpore affair, or attaching to him any peculiar praise or merit. I once heard him say, very angrily, "D—n the place—I wish I had never seen it; it's more plague to me, and oftener sounded in my ears, than if I had turned coward and run away. If I am to be pestered thus for having merely done my duty, the devil may fight next time, for I won't." It is true that a soldier cannot do more than his duty; every effort that he can make is due to his country, and every nerve should be exerted to promote its glory. From my own career, I am convinced that, where the danger is most imminent, the soul rises in proportion in energy and courage to meet it. I have invariably found it so myself, and I dare say that my feelings on these occasions are similar to those of most other soldiers.

The fort of Dhamoony is built of stone, and is situated in a most extraordinary place, and, as the people relate, was built on account of the following remarkable circumstance. Some rajah was hunting in its vicinity, when a hare got up and afforded excellent sport for a considerable time, and ultimately attacked and killed one of the rajah's bloodhounds. This singular circumstance induced him to erect the present fort of Dhamoony. It literally stands in a hole, surrounded by a wild and inaccessible jungle, and two of its sides resting on the steep banks, or rocky heads, of a tremendous ditch or ravine, in some places a hundred feet deep. Upon this stands the wall, some thirty or forty feet high; and, to view one of the bastions from this excavation is really terrific. On the front and other side there is scarcely any ditch; but the entrance is through five gateways, each of these commanded by small guns, and having small loop-holes for matchlocks.

The occupants of this fort actually fired at our advance, when nearly three miles off; I suppose to let us know that they were resolved to fight. We encamped about two miles from the small ridge of hills on which we afterwards erected our breaching-battery. In three days everything was ready, when the usual offer was made to them, as we did not wish wantonly to spill human blood. They spurned the proffered mercy; so to show them that we were in earnest, we commenced by giving them a salvo from our twenty-four pounders, accompanied with three cheers. They manfully returned both; and, from the show of heads upon the wall, we imagined we should have a tough job, and began to think the rajah's boast, that his fort was impregnable, not unfounded, for our shots rebounded some hundred feet; at which the garrison laughed and cheered most heartily. They little imagined what was in preparation for them, and was soon to follow. In about an hour, we effectually disturbed their merriment, and their turbans were seen flying in all directions from our little whistling shrapnells. In five minutes not a soul could be seen; but the screaming of women and children was dreadful. The first day our balls seemed to have made little or no impression upon the wall; but, on the following day, some large stones in the centre of the bastion seemed tired of being battered, and began to shake, and in the course of the morning two of them tumbled out, when an Irish sergeant of the Company's Bengal Foot Artillery exclaimed to a corporal, "Corporal Hogan! come here, joy; sure, we have knocked two of her teeth out at last, and we'll soon bother her wig for her." The corporal replied, "Ah, Paddy, that bastion comes down like sin."—"How is that, Hogan?" asked the sergeant. "By degrees, to be sure," replied the corporal; "for, when that once begins to come, faith! it tumbles on one by the hundreds." Some of the enemy having heard the noise of the stones falling, a few of them peeped their noses out to see what was the matter, and soon retired again, impressed with a conviction that the prophecies of the superstitious builder, as well as his boasted fort, would soon be without a foundation. These fears were rational enough, for the bastion began to give way in all directions. About one o'clock we expected our grand shelling-battery to open, which must certainly have completed the demolition of the fort, for our shells were of enormous calibre. About this time we generally broke off firing, for the purpose of the men getting their dinners; and this was the only time that the inmates of the fort dared to show their noses. Many were now gazing on the falling and dilapidated tower. Its top had giving warning of its being tired of the contest, having found out that iron is harder than stone. I thought I should like to take a nearer peep; so I asked Captain Cruikshank if he would accompany me to take a nearer view of the fort, that we might know what kind of ground we had to go over. I would advise all young soldiers to ascertain this grand point, whenever they can do so without risk of discovery or personal danger, that, when storming on dark nights, they may know where to run, and where to walk. I need not say that Captain Cruikshank, who was a most gallant officer, readily assented to my proposal. We crept down within a hundred yards of the bastion, and were so close, that we were observed peeping by those upon the wall. One of them said, "Come on; do not be afraid; we will not fire on you." This was repeated by several others, who stood on the walls. We asked them what they wanted by inviting us to go nearer; and they told us that, if we would cease firing, they would give up the fort. We replied that, if they were really inclined to do so, we would come nearer, and listen to their proposals and wishes. They swore most positively it was the wish of the keeledar and garrison. For myself, I scarcely thought that their oaths were to be trusted; but Captain Cruikshank said, if I would go, he would; so I had no alternative left, as, of course, after such an invitation, I could not say no. We accordingly approached close to the bastion, and they faithfully promised to surrender the fort, if we would cease firing. As we now felt assured that they were in earnest, their wishes were promptly communicated to the commander; and Brigadier-General Watson came down to where we had been standing, when it was settled, that all the occupants of the fort should be permitted to march out, with their families and private property, but that they should lay down their arms. This they readily assented to, and, as a pledge of their good faith, they undertook to send out the keeledar immediately. Our occupying-party was in readiness in the trenches. We, therefore, with the general, quarter-master-general, and several others, with about twenty soldiers, waited at the outer gate for the keeledar, who at last arrived, a poor hoary-headed old man, who had been bound for proposing to give up the fort before we commenced the siege. For having given utterance to such a proposal, his mutinous troops had kept him confined till that moment. When he was liberated, he looked the picture of misery and despair. His white beard was clotted together from weeping, and he seemed almost starved. We had given the garrison to understand that, if any treachery was attempted, the governor's life should be the forfeit. At this juncture, a most untoward circumstance occurred. An eight-mortar battery erected in the village, being uninformed of this parley, opened their new shelling fortification, to try the distance. The first shell fell within five yards of General Watson's feet, and exploded; but, strange to say, we all escaped. Another fell on the tree under which we were standing, and another burst over our heads; but it miraculously happened that no one was hurt. All was consternation. The poor old keeledar cried out "Treachery!" and some few shots were fired from the garrison. I was immediately dispatched towards our mortar-battery to stop their proceedings; but I had not gone ten yards before a shell fell within five paces of me. I immediately threw myself on my face, and hugged the ground, and thus escaped. I am persuaded that, when the shell bursts, it ascends a little, for I could hear the pieces buzzing over my head. The danger being over, I again made the best use of my legs, when I met the artillery-officer coming to see the effect of the shots which had been fired, to judge of the distance for the next eight, which were all ready. I was so completely out of breath that I could only say, "For God's sake, stop your firing!"

The officer, alarmed at my appearance and manner, said, "What the devil is the matter with you, Shipp?"—"Matter! my dear fellow," I replied; "why, you have, I suppose, by this time killed the general, quartermaster-general, and half the officers in camp." Hearing this he set off at a gallop towards the fort, to see the extent of the mischief he had done from his ignorance of the parley. I followed at a slow trot, and was delighted to find that none of the shells, although eight had been thrown, had done any other injury than frightening those whom they came near. I can speak for myself, at all events; and I protest I did not at all relish the idea of being shot by the shells of our own batteries. There was something unnatural in this mode of making one's exit; and, to tell the candid truth, I was terribly scared, and the captain of the battery and I never got on such terms of intimacy again as to be within shelling distance, as I was not fond of such combustible acquaintances.

After I had stopped the shelling from our battery, and was thinking of my miraculous escape, I was interrupted by an inquisitive sergeant; and, as I always made it a point of attending civilly to every man who spoke to me, I permitted him to go on. He addressed me as follows:—"Pray, was your honour there when the first shell fell, for I was after laying that self-same mortar?"

"Yes," said I, "and you nearly laid me in the grave."

"By the powers, but I should have been mighty sorry for that, your honour."

I thanked him for his sorrow, but he continued following me towards the scene of action, and at last again broke silence.

"Is all the fight over, your honour?"

I said, I hoped so.

"I hope not," replied he.

I told him I was pretty confident of it, as the enemy were willing to give up the fort.

Hearing this, he coolly replied, "Then bad luck to them, after all the trouble we have had in building and completing that sweet eight-gun battery forenent yonder."

"Well, but my good fellow," I replied, "you cannot expect with reason more than they have to give."

"I don't mane that, your honour; it's only so much time thrown away for nothing, without getting any satisfaction for it; besides, your honour, it is quite tantalizing to one's feelings; and a great big fight would have been some kind of compensation."

"Supposing that, in that great big fight, you or I should have been killed, sergeant?"

"By my conscience," said he, laughing loudly, "but that would have been rather unpleasant, certainly."

"That would have been but a poor compensation for your trouble. What do you think, sergeant?"

"Faith! your honour, I like short reckonings, and I do not like to work for nothing."

Here we rejoined the party; he mixed in the general bustle, and I lost sight of him. I afterwards saw the same man in the fort, and I pointed out to him a poor woman whose legs had been shot off, but who still carried her babe in her arms, saying, "Well, sergeant, I hope you are now compensated for your trouble in the erection of your battery." He turned his head to where I pointed, and said (I shall never forget his pathetic manner), "By my conscience, your honour, if I had thought I should ever have seen such a murderous sight, I would not have come near the place." I saw him wipe the tear of sympathy from his eye with the back of his hand, and he continued, "Shall I take the poor creature to the hospital?"—"No, sergeant," replied I, "you would only increase her pain." Almost immediately after this, the poor woman breathed her last sigh. In her last struggle she grasped her child, and, even after death, her cold eye rested on the features of her unconscious babe. We induced another woman, whose child had been killed, to take charge of this. She cheerfully consented; but whether the poor child really found in her a second mother, I had no means of knowing.

All the outer gates of the fort were barricaded with huge piles of stones, which we were obliged to remove before we could enter, and which took up a considerable time. We had prepared everything, in case of treachery, and we therefore marched in as if proceeding to storm.

As we entered, they threw open the gates; but there was a degree of expressive fear on the face of every man in the fort, for they were strangers to the principles of Europeans, and they judged them by their own. Every man was ready, with his match lighted, resolved, as we were afterwards given to understand, to sell their lives dearly, should we prove treacherous. No sooner did we enter, than the eye instinctively closed, on beholding the appalling scene before us. Terrified and decrepit old men and women were in great numbers; and agonized mothers were seen hugging their lifeless babes to their bosoms. Far and wide lay strewed bodies and parts of bodies. Some young women bared their bosoms to the pointed bayonets, calling upon our men either to kill them or return their murdered babes and husbands. One young maiden screamed bitterly for her father, who had been killed; and her last breath died upon the breeze, for she fell, and expired in the arms of her aged mother.

Having observed that we acted on the defensive only, and seemed rather to sympathize with them in their griefs, the enemy gained confidence, and left their elevated posts with apparent faith. They moved gradually and slowly out, taking with them their little property unmolested. They were pictures of the most abject misery and want. They had not received any pay from their master, the rajah of Nagpore, for the long period of two years, during which they had lived upon the produce of their exactions from the villagers of the surrounding country. I would venture to say that, out of fifteen hundred people, they had not a hundred rupees amongst them; but, had they millions, it was guaranteed to them by the word of faith which Britons had never broken in India. They quietly grounded their arms as they came out one by one, accompanied by their families. Some of them cast a last fond look at their sabres, probably some family relic, and heaved a parting sigh. The surrounding country being in a state of commotion, created by small parties of the Pindarees flying towards their long-forsaken homes, and purloining everything they came near on the road, our humane general permitted every tenth man to keep his matchlock and sword, for self-preservation. Under the dusk of the evening they moved towards their homes, and we took possession of the fort, having lost but very few men during the whole siege.