d on,
soon coming within range of quite a mob of hurrying men, who, for the
most part, threw away their arms, made for the patches of wood which
bordered the river, and hid among the trees unnoticed by our men, for,
in the distance, we could see in full flight, about forty well-mounted
men, among whom the rajah was conspicuous by his brilliant costume; and
as we tore on, we saw them ride down a slope leading to the river, and
directly after take to the water, swimming their horses as soon as it
grew deep, for the opposite bank.

I saw at a glance that the guns could not follow, and knew directly that
Brace had come to the same conclusion, for he halted the troop, and
unlimbering a couple of the guns, began to scatter grape shot with
terrible effect amongst the escaping fugitives, horse after horse being
struck and swept away by the rushing stream.

Those were exciting moments, mingled, to me, with horror, as at every
discharge and puff of white smoke, I saw the water torn up by the grape,
and some horse make a frantic plunge, rear up, fall over, and horse and
man disappear.

It was only a matter of a few minutes, though, before we saw the rajah
and the greater part of his followers mounting the opposite bank, and
then galloping off to disappear beyond the trees that came down nearly
to the water's edge.

"Let me pursue, with twenty or thirty men," said Haynes, excitedly.
"We'll take him."

But Brace shook his head.

"What I should like to do myself," he said; "but I cannot. No; they are
well-mounted; they know the country, and they have the start. Besides,
we are too weak as it is, and I can't afford to risk losing the guns
again by sending half of my force away. We don't know yet what
reception we may meet with in the town."

Very soon after we were trotting back toward the place in full
expectation of being fired upon; but we did not receive a shot, and as
we rode boldly in, we did not encounter a single military-looking man,
those who crowded the streets being the ordinary traders and
work-people, who treated us with a quiet cold stare.

The first task was to scout through the place with a couple of pickets,
while our guns were drawn up on an open space in the middle of the town,
where some of the principle people came with offerings of sweets and
chupatties, beside more substantial food and offerings.

The place was so small that our men were not long in bringing in a
report that there was not an arme