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172 crying and groaning felt as if every breath they drew was their last. There was not a noble who had a horse in his stable fit to use .' When they tried to victual the army by sea, the enemy intercepted the corn ships. The rocks and forests of the Ghát country had been quite as destructive to the cavalry as the spears of the Maráthás could have been. Fighting torrents and precipices, and enduring an unhealthy climate and scarcity of food, was an unprofitable business; and the Princes were ordered to converge upon Bíjápúr, whilst Aurangzíb pushed forward to Ahmadnagar.

As soon as the enemy's back was turned, Sivají's son, Sambhájí, swiftly led his active little horsemen behind their flank, and crossing over to Khándésh burned Burhánpúr and set the whole country side in a blaze. Before the Mughals could get at them, they were safe again in their fastnesses in the Gháts. This stroke is typical of the Maráthá method of warfare. They never risked an engagement in the open field unless their numbers made victory a certainty. When the heavy Mughal cavalry attacked them, the hardy little warriors, mounted on wiry steeds as inured to fatigue as themselves, and splendidly broken in for their tactics, would instantly scatter in all directions, and observe the enemy from a neighbouring hill or wood, ready to cut off solitary horsemen, or surprise small parties in ambush; and then, if the pursuers gave up the useless chase, in a moment the Maráthás were upon them, hanging on their flanks,