1829. ] Twelve Years’ Military Adventure. 163 
was lying in his tent at night, when he heard a noise resembling that of 
an animal moving about his room. He thought it was a dog or some 
such thing, and called up his orderly serjeant, who slept in an adjoining 
tent. The man got a light, looked all round the tent, but could discover 
nothing ; and the officer having bade him leave a long dirk unsheathed 
by his bedside, again tried to sleep. When all was still he heard the 
same sound, and was convinced that something was approaching his 
bed. He could not move his lower limbs, but reaching for his dirk, 
and aiming a blow at the spot whence the noise proceeded, which was 
close beside his bed, he felt that he struck some firm body: he repeated 
his blow—a low grunt followed—after which all was still, and the night 
passed away without further disturbance. In the morning his man 
found marks of blood in the tent, which he traced through an opening 
that had been made by removing one of the pegs, and some paces 
further he found the body of a Bheel pierced with two wounds, the 
effusion of blood from which had caused his death. 
Another story, which displays the ingenuity of the Bheels in a stronger 
light, was told by the same officer. The pay-serjeant of the company, 
a native, and a fellow of uncommon sharpness, heard that there were 
Bheels at hand, and knew that, by reason of his office, he should be the 
object of their particular attention. He always carried his money con- 
cealed about his person by day, and at night, thought he had contrived 
most effectually to disappoint the thieves. He dug a small hole in his 
tent, in which he deposited his money-bag, and spreading his mat over it, 
he lay down to sleep, with his feet towards the opening of the tent, so 
that nobody, as he thought, could enter without awakening him. In 
the middle of the night, a Bheel introduced himself into the farther part 
of the tent, by loosening one of the pegs; at the same moment another, 
rawling on all fours, put his head into the tent at the opening, and 
seizing one of the pay-sergeant’s great toes, he bit it to the bone. The 
sergeant jumped up in agony to seize his assailant, but caught only a 
shaven head which was well oiled for the purpose, and slipped through 
his hands almost as soon as he touched it. As he left his mat, the other 
Bheel, of whose presence he was unconscious, darted upon it, scrambled 
the bag out of the hole, and got out of the tent as he had entered ; the 
whole affair occupying much less time to act, than it takes to tell it. 
The author was at the battles of Assaye and Argaum, which have 
been so often described that it is hardly werth while to go over the 
ound again, and so, indeed, the author seems to think, for he does 
ittle more than state the result of each, accompanying them with a few 
anecdotes of his companions. Withstanding the temptation which these 
eyents hold ont to him to talk about himself, he gives a very simple 
account, and for his own part confesses that he was soundly frightened, 
and that he forgot his sword ; by which moderation, for our own part, 
we have a much higher opinion of his courage, than if he had told us he 
enacted more wonders than Bobadil. 
The most agreeable parts of his book are those in which he gives 
sketehes of local customs and manners, or of events connected with 
- There is something very stirring and spirited in his description 
of the transport of the troops across the Kistnah, which the south-west 
monsoon had filled from bank to bank, and which being, therefore, not 
fordable, it became necessary to prog, boats to cross :— 
