ces; and, for his part, he never left his house till an hour after
sunrise, lest he should encounter them.[8]

Many natives were present, and every one seemed to consider the
Sarimant's explanation of the cause quite satisfactory and
philosophical. Some days after, Spry was going down to sleep in the
bungalow where the accident happened. His native assistant and all
his servants came and prayed that he would not attempt to sleep in
the bungalow, as they were sure the horse must have been frightened
by a ghost, and quoted several instances of ghosts appearing to
people there. He, however, slept in the bungalow, and, to their great
astonishment, saw no ghost and suffered no evil.[9]

Notes:

1. A fortress, twenty-five miles cast of Sagar, captured by a
British force under General Watson in October 1818, For Seori and
Raja Arjun Singh see _ante_, Chapter 17, text by notes 1 and 4.

2. Amir Khan, a leader of predatory horse, has been justly described
as 'one of the most atrocious villains that India ever produced'. He
first came into notice in 1804, as an officer in Holkar's service,
and in the following year opposed Lord Lake at Bharatpur. A treaty
made with him in 1817 put an end to his activity. The Pindharis were
organized bands of mounted robbers, who desolated Northern and
Central India during the period of anarchy which followed the
dissolution of the Moghal empire. They were associated with the
Marathas in the war which terminated with the capture of Asirgarh in
April 1819. In the same year the Pindhari forces ceased to exist as a
distinct and recognized, body.

My father was an Afghan, and came from Kandahar:
He rode with Nawab Amir Khan in the old Maratha war:
From the Dekhan to the Himalay, five hundred of one clan,
They asked no leave of prince or chief as they swept thro'
Hindusthan.

(Sir A. Lyall, 'The Old Pindaree'; in _Verses written in India_,
London, 1889).

3. Named Govind Rao. The proper name of the Sarimant was Ramchand Rao
(_C.P. Gazetteer_, 1870).

4. Kurmin is the feminine of Kurmi, the name of a widely spread and
most industrious agricultural caste, closely connected, at least in
Bundelkhand, with the similar Lodhi caste.

5. Marwar, or Jodhpur, is one of the leading states in Rajputana. It
supplies the rest of India with many of the keenest merchants and
bankers.

6. See _ante_, Chapter 4, note 6, for remarks on the supposed
prophetic gifts of sati women.

7. Su