I myself am Bhaskur. I have a
soldier servant with me, on whom I can confidently rely; and I will
send him, with a chit, when I have any news to give you, and you
can send me word at what hour I had better call.

"Now, Colonel, I am at your orders and, if you will indicate to me
the nature of the news which you wish to gain, or the person whom
you want watched, I will do the best I can. At present, I know
nothing of any changes that have taken place, since I left here."

"The only event that is publicly known is that, while the Peishwa
has carried out his engagement with Scindia and with the Rajah of
Berar, he refused to ratify any treaty with the Nizam; and the
consequence is that the latter's general quitted Poona, without
taking leave of Bajee Rao, and returned in great indignation to
Hyderabad. This matter might have been smoothed over, if Scindia
had intervened, or if the Peishwa had made suitable advances to the
Nizam; but he has not done so. There is no doubt that he thoroughly
dislikes Nana Furnuwees and, instead of being grateful to him for
having placed him on the throne, he would gladly weaken his power.
At any rate, it was Nana who formed the confederacy; and I know
that his greatest wish is to keep it intact, and to secure peace to
the country.

"Moreover, matters have been further complicated by the death of
Holkar. He left two sons behind him, Khassee and Mulhar.
Unfortunately, Khassee is next door to an imbecile; while Mulhar
was a bold and able prince. The brothers quarrelled: two half
brothers took the part of Mulhar, who left his brother's camp, with
a small body of troops, and took up his abode at a village just
outside the city--and was, I believe, favoured by Nana, whose
interest naturally was to have an active and able prince, as ruler
of Holkar's dominions. Scindia--who was, I suspect, delighted at
this quarrel in Holkar's camp--supported Khassee, and sent a body
of troops to arrest Mulhar, who, refusing to surrender, maintained
a desperate defence, until he was killed. Jeswunt went to Nagpore
and Wittoojee fled to Kolapoore, but they were almost the only
adherents of Mulhar who effected their escape.

"So matters stand, at present. The fact that the imbecile Khassee
owes his elevation to Scindia will, naturally, give the latter a
predominating influence over him. Thus, you see, the confederacy
has gone completely to pieces. The Nizam is estranged; the Rajah of
Berar has gone home to Nagpo