nt horses with the Sipahi guard being encamped about
half a mile off to our rear. At about eleven at night the European
sergeant in charge of the horses burst into our tent in some
consternation, stating that a large band of robbers were descending
from the adjacent hills to attack the treasure. Sturt immediately
jumped up, and mounting his horse gallopped off to the supposed scene
of action. All was quiet _without_ the camp; _within_ there was a
terrible bustle, which Sturt at last succeeded in allaying by sending
out patrols in various direction, who reported that nothing could be
either heard or seen of the dreaded robbers. Being rather averse to
these nocturnal diversions, especially as they promised to be of
frequent occurrence, I made careful inquiries to ascertain if there
were any real foundation for the alarm, but all I could learn was,
that the neighbourhood had always been noted for robbers, who hasten
towards the point upon the report of any party worth plundering
passing near any of their forts. Possibly some robbers had gained
intelligence of our treasure, and had actually appeared on the hills,
but on discovering the strength of our party had retired.

The next day our route lay through delicious fields of ripening
clover, in such profusion that the air was impregnated with its
agreeable perfume, to a small fort called Oorghundee, remarkable
chiefly for being the head-quarters of the oft-mentioned thieves, of
whom I daresay the reader is as tired as we were after the mere dread
they inspired had caused us to pass two sleepless nights. But we were
now determined to assume a high tone, and summoning the chief of the
fort, or, in other words, the biggest villain, into our presence,
we declared that in the event of our losing a single article of our
property or being annoyed by a night attack, we would retaliate in the
morning by cutting the surrounding crops and setting fire to the fort!

The military reader, especially if conversant with some of the
peculiarities of eastern discipline, will question how far we should
have been justified in carrying our threats into execution. I can
assure him we had no such intention; but be that as it may, our
threats had the desired effect, and at length we enjoyed an
uninterrupted night's rest.

On the morning of the 16th we proceeded to Koteah Shroof, the whole
distance being about ten miles: but the first three brought us to the
extremity of the beautiful valley thr