Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/328

274 ratha chieftains also sallied forth from Poona with a vast body of retainers, and opposed their advance with the utmost perseverance at Nurghat; whereupon a tremendous contest and a frightful slaughter ensued, until the combatants on both sides had neither the power nor the inclination left to assail each other any more. At length, by the intervention of the obscurity of night, the tumult of war subsided, and the world-consuming fire of guns and matchlocks, whose flames arose to the highest heavens, hid its face in the ashes of night, so that the soldiery was obliged to retire, each to its respective quarters. During that night, the prudent belligerents made up their minds to a peace; and in the morning, the chiefs of the rival forces obtained an interview and enjoyed a conference. The English leaders, after negotiating a truce and consolidating the basis of friendship, delivered up Raghunath Rao, who had been the instigator of this conflict and the originator of this hostile movement, to the Maratha chiefs, on condition of their granting him certain lands and rents as an annuity, and treating him with kindness and consideration. They then turned away from that quarter with all their troops and followers, and repaired to their usual place of abode.

The Maratha chiefs had formed the fixed determination in their minds of taking vengeance on the ill-fated Raghunath Rao; but Mahaji Sindhia Bahadur, prompted by his manly and generous feelings, diverted them from their headlong and cruel purposes, so that tho matter was managed mercifully and kindly, and the