"Quantities?" the Mahratta said. "Tigers and bears swarm there, and are such a scourge that there are no villages within miles of the foot of the hills. Even on the plateau above, the villages are few and scarce near the edge, so great is the damage done by wild beasts.
"But that is not all. There are numerous bands of Dacoits, who set the authority of the peishwar at defiance, plunder travellers and merchants going up and down, make raids into the Deccan, and plunder the low land nearly up to the gates of Bombay. Numerous expeditions have been sent against them, but the Dacoits know every foot of the hills. They have numerous, impregnable strongholds on the rocks; which you can see rising sheer up hundreds of feet, from among the woods on the slopes; and can, if pressed, shift their quarters, and move fifty miles away among the trees, while the troops are, in vain, searching for them."
"I suppose there is no chance of their attacking us," Charlie said.
"The Dacoit never fights if he can help it, and then only when driven into a corner, or when there appears a chance of very large plunder. He will always leave a strong party of armed men, from whom nothing but hard blows is to be got, in peace."
The journey occupied five days, and was most enjoyable. The officer of the escort, as the peishwar's agent, would have requisitioned provisions at each of the villages; but Charlie insisted, under one pretence or another, on buying a couple of sheep or kids at each halting place, for the use of his own party and the escort. For a few copper coins an abundant supply of fruit and vegetables was obtainable; and as, each night, they spread their rugs under the shade of some overhanging tree, and smoked their pipes lazily after the very excellent meal which Hossein always prepared, Charlie and Tim agreed that they had spent no pleasanter time in India than that occupied by their journey.
Charlie was received with much honor by Ramajee Punt, and was assigned a gorgeous tent, next to his own.
"People in England, Mister Charles," said Tim that evening, "turn up their noses at the thought of living in tents, but what do they know of them? The military tent is an uncomfortable thing, and as for the gipsy tent, a dacent pig wouldn't look at it. Now this is like a palace, with its carpet under foot, and its sides covered with silk hangings, and its furniture fit for a palace. Father Murphy wouldn't believe me, if I told him about it on oath. If this is making war, yer honor, I shall be in no hurry for pace."
The Mahratta force took up its position, beleaguering the town on the land side, some weeks before the arrival of the fleet; Commodore James, with his two ships, blockading it at sea. There was little to do, and Charlie accepted with eagerness an offer of Ramajee Punt, that they should go out for two or three days' tiger hunting, at the foot of the hills.
"Well, Mr. Charles," Tim said, when he heard of the intention, "if you want to go tiger hunting, Tim Kelly is not the boy to stay behind. But shure, yer honor, if the creeturs will lave ye alone, why should you meddle with them? I saw one in a cage at Arcot, and it's a baste I shouldn't wish to see on a lone road on a dark night. It had a way of wagging its tail that made you feel uncomfortable like, to the sole of yer boots; and after looking at me for some time, the baste opened its mouth, and gave a roar that shook the whole establishment. It's a baste safer to let alone than to meddle with."
"But we shall be up on the top of an elephant. We shall be safe enough there, you know."