Towards this quarter of the Geer we marched, and halted in its neighbourhood, knowing that the rebels must come out for supplies. Whilst thus encamped parties of the Nawab's Sebundee were, under cover of night, pushed up to the neighbourhood of these villages, and withdrawn before daybreak. They had orders to act according to any information they might receive during the night; to attack, if strong enough, or send to me for assistance.

During this interval my astonishment and disgust may be imagined on receiving from Government an express,' in reply to my report of the intended march, censuring me in the severest language for the rashness with which I had taken the field without waiting for sanction, which they therefore withheld, and ending by saying that, should this despatch reach me too late to prevent hostile operations, Government threw upon me the onus of all difficulties that might ensue, and, in case of success, would refuse me any credit.

1 As the mail was carried by foot-runners the whole way, the term was little better than nominal.

Two courses were now before me; one, to break up the force and return to cantonments, leaving the country to its fate; the other, to persevere under shelter of the words too late, and take all risks upon myself, to say nothing of the possibility of being charged with murder by the relations of men killed in the conflict, and thus, as it were, proceeding with a halter round my neck. Under the circumstances mentioned, it appeared to me that I ought to throw self entirely aside, and do only what was best for the public interests: on the one hand, to quench a triple firebrand, which I had every hope of doing; on the other, to save myself from pains and penalties, and barely even that, for the Government might hereafter attribute all the convulsion that was certain to ensue, to my drawing back after having once begun. I decided, therefore, on endorsing the despatch with 'too late,' and locking it safely up, lest other eyes should see it, and become paralysed.

Had the Nawab's government been sufficiently consolidated, I might have carried on the war with its aid alone, but the retreat of the regular troops

at such a crisis would have been a temptation to his undisciplined soldiers, further disorganised by party feelings, to follow their own inclinations. The Joonagur factions were likely to be too strong for the young king unassisted. The Nagur Brahmins, who had lost power by his accession, secretly favoured the rival claims, and no other class in the whole Peninsula equalled this in influence both from superior attainments and power of combination. Moreover, Nagur Brahmins filled all the native departments of the Agency, and sympathised with their brethren at Joonagur, though of course endeavouring to conceal this from me. Added to which, the Nawab's mother, being of inferior rank to her rivals, had less weight with the upper classes of the country, and had weakened what she did possess by encouragement given to a favourite, a conceited upstart named Nuthoo Khan, who gave himself the airs of a grandee, and was universally disliked. It was evident to me that Government were shaken by the Afghanistan tragedy then being enacted to such an extent as to

make them magnify the comparative insignificance

of that going forward nearer home, and also forget that the sanction previously granted had not been revoked, and that I was both literally and virtually carrying out the instructions sent for my guidance.

Happily, I had not long to wait before the plan of operations going forward bore fruit. A party of the rebels, including their fighting leader Bhoja Munganee, came forth from the Geer for information. and supplies. Tidings were immediately conveyed by parties in the village gained over by Hubeeb Khan to his nearest outpost, the most trusty men being employed watching. These advanced in the darkness, and pounced on the insurgents, who, taken unawares, fled, leaving Bhoja Munganee and another man also of note. Entirely surrounded in one of the houses, and unable to escape, the two preferred death to surrender. In Bhoja Munganee's saddle-bags was found a recent letter from the rebels in the capital, denoting unity of design, though otherwise so guardedly worded as to be useless. His death took the sting from Hursoor Wala's revolt, for the latter, being incapable of guiding a movement, the party was kept together

by the influence and ability of the other, who was known throughout the country as Hursoor Wala's sword. Had Bhoja lived, the troop might have been increased by hundreds at any time who would willingly have flocked to his standard.

Danger number one being thus overcome, the state of affairs at Mangrol next urgently demanded a remedy, for every day that decisive measures were postponed not only risked the destruction of the Nawab's faithful band there, but also hazarded a greater peril. The Mangrol State was under the widow of its chief as Regent, an elderly woman of determined character. She had sent agents to Bombay to besiege Government, or all they could get hold of there, to avert my threatened measures; and as, unfortunately, there was little difficulty by sufficient expenditure in obtaining access to the information recorded in the Secretariat, there was great probability of their having thus found out that these measures had not received the approval of Government. This information they could send by their own vessels to the port of Mangrol even quicker than by the post, and should it reach that