Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/163

Rh and when the officer whose duty it was to visit the prisoner every two hours, came to his tent, he saw two servants engaged in this operation and was quite satisfied that his charge was in his keeping. Thus ample time was given to effect a successful escape, and Apá Sáhib made such good use of the respite, which his devoted followers had procured for him, that, in spite of every exertion made for his re-capture, he was not to be found and all trace of the fugitive was lost. His flight was of no real importance, and indeed it furnished an excuse for the pacification of certain districts which but for this event might have been left alone until a more favourable opportunity should present itself; but it necessarily protracted the war somewhat longer than otherwise would have been the case.

Apá Sáhib was harboured by some discontented natives living near Betúl, and round his standard there flocked a motley array of the broken fragments of Arabs and of the Maráthá states, and composed of the discordant elements they contained, now united by the common danger that threatened them all. In July they succeeded in cutting to pieces a small British detachment, and later they occasioned the deployment of Adams' force; but the rains interfered with military operations, and nothing decisive could be effected until the following year (1819), when the disturbed district was reduced to order and the enemy attacked. Apá Sáhib, whose energy in collecting an army far surpassed his courage in using it, was able