Having arranged everything for the protection of the property, I was appointed a prize agent for head-quarters, and we immediately commenced collecting the property to one spot. My first care was to put double sentinels on the entrance to the zenanah, till I could, with the other two prize-agents, search that place; but, as they were busy in another place, I took a peep at my double sentinels, and found one of them had left his post, and gone inside. I met him coming towards me with two large boxes, about two feet by three. I asked him what he had got there, and he said that they contained nothing but paun. I told him to give them to me. He did so, and I found them of an enormous weight. They contained, in fact, the whole of the jewellery of the zenanah. In the verandah were large bales of shawls and silks, sewn together like quilts, and in an inner room was the family of the keeledar, consisting of his wife and two daughters, who, on beholding me, threw themselves at my feet, and begged for mercy in the most beseeching manner. I could as soon have laid the finger of harm on the author of my being; indeed, the duties of my present situation were repugnant and uncongenial to my feelings; but, whatever situation I was appointed to, or intrusted with, I always made it my primary object to fulfil the several branches of it in the most rigid manner, consistent with the rules of the service and usages of war; and, therefore, the more sympathetic feelings were absorbed in those of duty. I, however, consoled these poor weeping creatures with the full assurance of their safety and protection against harm or pollution, of which they expressed the most dreadful fears. This privileged right of war, so esteemed by the native powers, has in no instance ever stained the victorious banners of the East India Company; but these females had wrought their anguished minds on this subject to a pitch of frenzy and distraction, and all I could do and say could not drive from their fear-distorted features the evident dread under which they laboured. When, at length, I called God to witness the sincerity of my assurances, I could see a ray of hope beam and shine through their tears of apprehension, and their tempestuous bosoms became comparatively quieted and calmed. The thanks and prayers of the elder daughter would have affected with pity and commiseration the most tyrannic heart. She was, I think, the most perfect beauty I had ever seen. Her form was sylph-like and elegant; her features regular and beautifully shaped; and her eyes were of a jet black, and peeped from under her dark eyebrows like stars stealing from behind the murky clouds of night. Her voice, when she spoke, was extremely sweet, and the words of consolation which she addressed to her aged mother, would have drawn tears of pity from the most obdurate heart. When she threw herself at my feet, and supplicated for mercy, her piercing and anguished looks stole drops of pity from my eyes; and the