rajah at once sent for his sons--of whom Harry had seen but
little, for they were always on the walls, encouraging the troops
and seeing that the breaches were repaired, as soon as made. The
rajah read to them the draft of the treaty. They too were visibly
relieved; for they had talked the matter over with their father, on
the evening before, and had agreed that, probably, he and his
family would be kept as prisoners in a fortress, that the
fortifications of the town would be destroyed, and some nominee of
the British Government created rajah.

"The general has not said which of my sons is to be hostage?"

"No, Rajah, he left that to you. I may say that he took the same
view of your position as that which you, yourself, explained to me;
namely, that you joined Holkar simply from the apprehension that,
if the English were defeated by him, he would next turn his arms
against you."

"Which of you will go?" the rajah asked his sons.

All expressed their willingness.

"Then I will choose my third son," he said to Harry; "the others
will be more useful here."

Harry rode out, early in the morning, with the news that the rajah
accepted the terms offered to him. In an hour the treaty was
written out formally, the general affixing his signature. Harry
returned to the city, this time accompanied by a general officer,
and both signed their names as witnesses to the rajah's signature.
Some bullock carts, with chests containing the three lakhs of
rupees, were already in the courtyard; and with these and the
rajah's third son, Harry returned to camp.

The army afterwards started to meet Scindia, who had advanced with
his army, with the intention of joining Holkar and assisting the
Rajah of Bhurtpoor. He had, for some time, been almost openly
hostile; had sent his relation, Bapeejee Scindia, with a strong
body of horse, to act in concert with the cavalry of Ameer Khan and
Holkar; and had sent letters to the Government which amounted to a
declaration of war. But when Holkar reached his camp a fugitive,
and he heard that Bhurtpoor had surrendered, he at once fell back;
and endeavoured to make excuses for his conduct, alleging that
Bapeejee Scindia has acted entirely without orders, and that he had
himself advanced only with the intention of mediating between the
Rajah of Bhurtpoor and the English.

No one was deceived by his assurances, but it was thought politic
to pretend to believe them. The Marquis of Wellesley's term of