Many natives were present, and every one seemed to consider the Sarîmant's explanation of the cause quite satisfactory and philosophical. Some days after, Spry was going down to sleep in the bungalow where the accident happened. His native assistant and all his servants came and prayed that he would not attempt to sleep in the bungalow, as they were sure the horse must have been frightened by a ghost, and quoted several instances of ghosts appearing to people there. He, however, slept in the bungalow, and, to their great astonishment, saw no ghost and suffered no evil.[9] Notes: 1. A fortress, twenty-five miles cast of Sâgar, captured by a British force under General Watson in October 1818, For Seorî and Râjâ Arjun Singh see _ante_, Chapter 17, text by notes 1 and 4. 2. Amîr Khân, a leader of predatory horse, has been justly described as 'one of the most atrocious villains that India ever produced'. He first came into notice in 1804, as an officer in Holkar's service, and in the following year opposed Lord Lake at Bharatpur. A treaty made with him in 1817 put an end to his activity. The Pindhârîs were organized bands of mounted robbers, who desolated Northern and Central India during the period of anarchy which followed the dissolution of the Moghal empire. They were associated with the Marâthâs in the war which terminated with the capture of Asîrgarh in April 1819. In the same year the Pindhârî forces ceased to exist as a distinct and recognized, body. My father was an Afghân, and came from Kandahar: He rode with Nawâb Amir Khan in the old Marâthâ war: From the Dekhan to the Himalay, five hundred of one clan, They asked no leave of prince or chief as they swept thro' Hindusthan. (Sir A. Lyall, 'The Old Pindaree'; in _Verses written in India_, London, 1889). 3. Named Govind Râo. The proper name of the Sarîmant was Râmchand Râo (_C.P. Gazetteer_, 1870). 4. Kurmin is the feminine of Kurmî, the name of a widely spread and most industrious agricultural caste, closely connected, at least in Bundêlkhand, with the similar Lodhî caste. 5. Mârwâr, or Jodhpur, is one of the leading states in Râjputâna. It supplies the rest of India with many of the keenest merchants and bankers. 6. See _ante_, Chapter 4, note 6, for remarks on the supposed prophetic gifts of satî women. 7. Such feelings of resignation to the Divine will, or fate, are common alike to Hindoos and Musalmâns. 8. 'One of a wife's duties should be to keep all bad omens out of her husband's way, or manage to make him look at something lucky in the early morning. . . . Different lists of inauspicious objects are given, which, if looked upon in the early morning, might cause disaster' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 397). 9. Dr. Spry died in 1842, and his estate was administered by the author. The doctor's works are described _ante_, Chapter 14, note 16. CHAPTER 22