44 BANDITTI OF THIEVES 



or not they should plunder my tent; they re- 

 mained near us a considerable time and then 

 went off in a direction towards it. Very soon 

 after, we saw the village of Pindarchoon in 

 flames. 



At day light we quitted our hiding place, 

 and to my great joy when I returned to the tent 

 I found every thing safe, without a soul having 

 been disturbed. The thieves set fire to the 

 village and plundered it of all the carriage-bul- 

 locks they found, which they loaded with every 

 thing they could lay their hands on ; the whole 

 was not of much value, the village being small 

 and the people who lived in it poor. 



Whenever a number of thieves enter a vil- 

 lage for plunder, it is termed dakka, the very 

 sound of the word will drive all the inhabi- 

 tants, men women and children, from thier 

 village, leaving the thieves i n quiet possession 

 to ransack it at their will. It seldom happens 

 in such cases that any resistance is made. 



