227 Hisfonj of the RajnoossifS. [JulV 



less they were newly thatched and repaired. Under this pretext lie 

 obtained permission to ascend to the npper fort for the pnrpose of 

 putting the houses ui proper order. Judging that the suspicions of 

 the garrison were coni[)letely lulled, with respect to their anticipat- 

 ing any act of teaciiery on his part, the Naik collected between 

 ihn ty and lorty of the most active of his followers, and made each 

 of ihem take a load of grass on his head, while a few of them took 

 several bundles of rafters. In each of the bundles of grass the 

 Kolies had inserted their swords, while a matchlock was con- 

 cealed in the bundles of rafters, and the party, headed by Khun- 

 doojee himself, conimenced ascending the hill. The Koley 

 Naik had been tampering for some days with a Mtihome- 

 dan sepoy of the garrission, who, on the day appointed for the 

 enterprise, contiived to fasten many of the matchlocks and swords 

 of his comrades, by means of the slender rope of which the matches 

 are formed, to the pegs in the walls on which they usually suspend 

 their arms, and when Khundoojee with his followers arrived opposite 

 to the quarters occupied by the sepoys,* they threw down their 

 loads, and drawing their swords, lushed on the unprepared and un- 

 armed sepoys, and pursued them all over the hill. They killed and 

 wounded about fifty of them, and the rest fled. Khundoojee im- 

 mediately adopted the necessary measures for securing the gates, 

 and when the Jageerdar arrived from Sassoor with a party for the 

 purpose of supporting his own men, or re-taking the place, should 

 Khundoojee have been successful, he found the Kolies were in com- 

 plete possession of the hill, and shouting threats of defiance to him. 



The Jageerdar suffered a very heavy loss by this act of the Kolies, 

 for all the treasure, and much of the valuable property of the family, 

 was deposited in buildings on the summit of the hill. There was 

 upwards of sixteen lacks of rupees in gold alone, and Khundoojee, 

 who had sent to inform the Peshwah of his having overpowered the 

 garrison, and being in possession of the place, commenced plunder- 

 ing and secreting the riches which had fallen into his hands, before 

 the Peshwah's people could arrive from Poona. 



Mhadeo Row Peshwah, was aware of the large sum of money 

 lodged in the fort, belonging to the Jageerdar's family ; and when 

 he despatched a body of troops on the following day for the pur- 

 pose of garrisoning the fort, he gave most particular instructions 



* The garrison did not consist of above a hundred men at the time, and 

 these were divided into small parties to guard the gates, 6cc. so that pro- 

 bably there were not twenty present at their quarters on this occasion. 



