h the natives. First the Pindarees sent out plundering bands from Malwa.
To suppress them, Lord Hastings had to collect an army of 120,000, the
largest force yet mustered in India. From Madras, four army divisions under
Sir Thomas Hislop crossed the Nerbudda, and drove the Pindarees toward
Bengal. By the great number of his remaining troops Lord Hastings overawed
the neighboring rulers, Peishwa Sindia of the Mahratta, Ameer Khan, Holkar
and Runjit Singh of the Punjab. Peishwa Baji Rao was compelled to sign a
treaty of neutrality at Toona. In October, thereupon, Lord Hastings left
Cawnpore and crossed the Jumna. The Pindarees were routed in a series of
swift-fought engagements. One of their chieftains, Khurin, gave himself up
with his whole household, while another, Chetu, was killed by a tiger while
hiding in the jungle.

[Sidenote: Mahratta war]

The Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who was biding his time until the British
forces should withdraw from his dominions, grew impatient and threatened
open war. To appease him a newly arrived British regiment was withdrawn
from Toona to Khirki, a village about four miles from the British
Residency. This concession only encouraged the Peishwa to further
resistance.

[Sidenote: Hindu Blondin]

[Sidenote: Outbreak of Poonah]

[Sidenote: Flight of Baji Rao]

The Mahratta war opened with a romantic incident. Trimbukji Dainglia, one
of the favorites of the Peishwa, was held closely confined by the English
at Thanna for his share in the murder of one of Baji Rao's enemies. Before
the outbreak of hostilities the Mahrattas managed to get word to him of
what was coming. A native groom in the service of one of the British
officers passed the window of the prisoner every day leading his master's
horses. As he did so he trolled a native song the purport of which the
British guards neither understood nor suspected. It has thus been
translated by Bishop Heber:

Behind the bush the bowmen hide
The horse beneath the tree.
Where shall I find a chief to ride
The jungle paths with me?

There are five-and-fifty horses there,
And four-and-fifty men;
When the fifty-fifth shall mount his steed,
The Dekhan thrives again.

A few days after this Trimbukji Dainglia was missing. He had broken a bar
from its setting, scaled the wall, and joined a party of horsemen lying in
wait. With them he fled to the jungles of Kanderish. Just before the
outbreak of hostilities a British