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Rh obliged again to go southwards, and towards the end of the year he was on the direct road to Poona; here we will leave him for the present, and turn to Nágpur, where events similar to those enacted at Poona were taking place.

Apá Sáhib's attitude towards the Supreme Government continually fluctuated, and he followed with almost slavish precision the example set by the ruler of Poona; when the Peshwá became hostile, the Bhonsla was sure to manifest impatience at British control, and when the former was reduced to obedience, he invariably assumed a peaceable demeanour. Apá Sáhib was in short a typical Maráthá prince; he desired to use British power to attain his own ends, but, discontented with the restraints it imposed, he determined to throw off the yoke it laid upon his rule, and, while lacking the necessary personal courage to effect this object, he employed thereto the arts of duplicity in which he excelled. It was therefore to be expected that as soon as the revolt of Bájí Ráo became known, there would be a crisis at Nágpur.

In this instance however, the defeat of the Maráthás at Kirkí, and the occupation of Poona, as well as Sindhia's difficulties, did not seem to produce any change in his hostility, for, on pretence of massing troops against the Pindárís, he also assumed so threatening an attitude that Mr. Jenkins, the Resident, was obliged to post the British force, left near Nágpur, on a position on the Sítábaldí hills, where it could defend the Residency. Hardly was this step taken