ity, and there gained the information from which he drew his plans.
The integrity and faith of this native had been such, that his master
would have trusted his life on his veracity. For the long period of more
than twenty years had this spy borne the toils and risks of his perilous
occupation, without once having been detected in a falsehood; but his
grey hairs were now, at a late period of his life, disgraced. For his
long services, however, he was pensioned off, and placed in a solitary
hut in his old age, to repent of this one act of deception. He confessed
that his old tottering frame had refused to bear him as heretofore, and
that fear had caused him to commit this his first transgression.

We had gained unquestionable information that a large body of our old
friends, the Pindarees, had found an asylum in this fort, to the number
of five hundred men, to assist in its defence. The place was so closely
invested by us, that a man could not possibly escape; and we, one and
all, were determined to chastise the garrison for their base treachery,
and the Pindarees for their impudence. Although this town and fort
occupied more than three miles in circumference, yet, at night, such was
our care of their precious inmates, we formed a complete and close chain
of sentinels around the whole of the space; and every quarter of a mile
we had posted strong mounted and dismounted piquets, whose horses were
constantly on the bit. The primary object of our brave general was to
avoid any unnecessary effusion of blood; and, consequently, mercy was
tendered to the occupants of the fort, provided they would give it up.
Every base stratagem was resorted to, as usual, to gain time to
reinforce and strengthen the fort, under the plea of taking time to
think of the proffered terms of reconciliation. All this while we could
see every hand employed in building new fortifications, under the
delusion that our guns were only intended to intimidate them into
compliance. They were confirmed in this opinion, not only by the
predictions of their priests, but from the supposed impossibility of
getting any guns of a large size over the gigantic mountains we had
traversed; and, indeed, to view the lofty mountains, to use the words of
the natives, "It was difficult for the sharp-eyed hawk to find his way
over such precipices, for they were as stupendous as the midnight moon,
or the morning light peeping from the newly-lighted chambers of the
East." This d