“The Raja of Dinajpur did not fail to be embarrassed by the favour which he had shown to us.  Fear was the only motive which influenced him.  He sent word to me to depart by night under an escort of 200 of his people, who would conduct me to Murshidabad.  I was very nearly accepting his suggestion, but the hunger and thirst, from which we suffered greatly, prevented me.  So I postponed giving him a final answer till the next morning, and then, after full reflection, decided not to move from the place to which.  I had been conducted until I received an answer to the letters sent to Murshidabad.  I thought this all the wiser, as I was informed that nothing would induce my enemies to approach or attack me in my asylum.[160] The place was so retired and so well provided with storehouses, that I found there a greater appearance of security than in the open country or the escort offered by the Raja, as his men were subordinate to the same Prince as the people who composed the army of Sheikh Faiz Ulla, and were likely enough to abandon me or to join my enemies in overwhelming me.  My conjectures were well founded, as, several days after, this same Raja, prompted by Sheikh Faiz Ulla, sent me word that he could not answer for what might happen to me if I were attacked; that his troops, being subject to Murshidabad like those of Kasim All Khan, could not support me, nor fire on the latter.  Finally he sent a certain priest of his faith, a grave man, who came to suggest to us that our best course was to leave Dinajpur and gain the open country, otherwise we were lost.  He said that he knew for certain that if I were so obstinate as to persist in wishing to remain there, orders had been given to attack us, cut our throats, and send our heads to Murshidabad.  This person wished to terrify us so as to rid the Raja of us, as he was dying with fright lest war should be made in the very heart of his town.  I replied that I was resolved to defend myself against any one who attacked me, to set fire to everything I found within my reach, to kill as many people as I could, and to die on my guns when I had used up all my ammunition; that this was also the intention of my companions, who preferred to die thus, like brave men, rather than to be exposed to the ignominies and indignities that we should undergo if we allowed ourselves to be made prisoners by the people of Kasim All Khan.  The timid Raja, threatened by both parties, found himself in the utmost embarrassment, for Sheikh Faiz Ulla, at the gates of his town, put, as it were, his country under contribution, and demanded from him, with all imaginable insolence, that he should deliver us up to him, a thing which the Raja found difficult to do.

“Some days passed in this way, during which we had frequent alarms, but the letters I received from Murshidabad filled every one with perplexity.  The English sent me people on their own account.  One of my private friends,[161] whom I had been so fortunate as to oblige on a