Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/331

Rh fought and conquered at Laswarree will aid to nerve the arms and brace the sinews of the soldier, so long as their deeds are remembered.

Thus vanquished at every point, in Upper and Central India, Scindia, as we have already stated, signed a treaty on the 30th of December, 1803, by which he ceded the Dooab, or territory between the Ganges and the Jumna, with considerable provinces beyond the latter river; surrendering thereby to the British dominion Delhi and Agra, the two capitals of the Great Mogul, and with them the person of the nominal emperor. He sacrificed also Baroach, with the rest of his maritime territory in Guzerat, while on the south he yielded Ahmednuggur to the Peishwa, and some extensive districts to the Nizam; but he regained the other places conquered from him in the course of the war.

The day on which the negotiations with Scindia were brought to a termination was distinguished by an event of a different character, but calculated to promote the interests of peace and order. General Campbell, with a force previously employed in defence of the Nizam's territories, had been despatched into the south Mahratta country to check some suspicious indications on the part of the Jaghiredars there. On the 27th of December he received information that a party of Mahratta plunderers, amounting to about ten thousand horse, with some Pindarries on foot, had passed the Kistna, at the Dharoor Ghaut, and were proceeding towards Moodianoor; and he accordingly marched on the following morning, with his cavalry and flank companies lightly equipped, in pursuit of them.

The leader of the ruffian force of which General Campbell was in search was Mahomed Bey Khan, who chose, however, to be known as Dhoondia Waugh, a name already signalised in these pages. Although the death of the real Dhoondia Waugh was a matter of sufficient notoriety, the new adventurer found from Eastern credulity a ready admission of his pretensions. He was,