"A pretty business Bajee Rao has made of it," said he, as I had asked him the news from Poona. "The coward! had he but put himself at the head of his army when the fight took place at Kirkee, he might have annihilated the Feringhees."
"And do you wish that he had?" said I.
"Certainly; what do we know of them? While they confined themselves to the fort of Bombay, it was all very well,—and I remember the time when they had hardly a foot of ground beyond it; but now, little by little they have advanced, until they have upset the Mahratta empire, and are in a fair way to take it."
"But," said I, "Bajee Rao has a good army, all the country is his own, and surely he will do something. The Mahrattas are good soldiers, and he has leaders of renown with him."
"He will do nothing, Meer Sahib; he will run from place to place, and his army may fight if they can or will: he will never draw a sword. The cowardly wretch has not the soul of a flea."
"Well, Jemadar, to me it matters little; I have forsworn soldiering, and find that I can get a good livelihood by escorting treasure and goods. I am just come from Benares, and the sahoukar who employed me has sent for more, which I am to bring down to him."
"Ah!" cried he, "so you are in that line. Well, it is a good one if you have plenty of men, but a sorely troublesome and difficult one if you have few. I speak from experience, for I am in the same business myself. I have been lucky, but my poor brother was otherwise; he fell by the hands of thieves between here and Indoor; we heard of him from Boorhanpoor, but beyond that we could get no tidings of him."
"Strange!" said I: "I never heard of thieves on the road, though my kafila would have been worth plundering. But now I am under the protection of the Sahib-logue, I care not; they will soon have all the country, and there will be no danger in another year."
"Under the protection of the Feringhees! how do you mean? I thought you said you served a sahoukar."
"So I do," I replied; "but to ensure my safe return, his friend Soobhan Khan got me this pass, which he said would be respected throughout the country;" and I pulled out the document, which I had carefully folded up in wax-cloth, and showed it to him.