are peculiarly excitable.) The Nawab's refusal to join the Bareilly rebels, and his kindness in sending us supplies and money, had rendered him very unpopular with the Mohammedan fanatics among his people, and it was feared that, during the Eyde, he might be assassinated, in which case his successor would probably have been elected with the express understanding that he should do what he could to aid the rebel interests, and, likely, to begin by an attempt to cut us off, as we were close at hand.
The next and chief reason for our removal was, that Khan Bahadar Khan, the new “King of Rohilcund,” had actually dispatched an increased force from Bareilly to Nynee Tal, in order to destroy us; and the Commissioner had certain information on Saturday morning that they had not only started, but were encamped at Bahari, mid-way between Nynee Tal and Bareilly. Still, even this alone would not have caused us to leave, for “his army” were not likely to look our three hundred Ghoorka troops in the face, much less to have gone near the cannon and the body of English gentlemen with which we had fortified the head of the pass. But our anxiety was, that inasmuch as preparation to meet them involved the withdrawal of all the troops and the gentlemen from Nynee Tal, this would necessarily leave our ladies and children unprotected against any attempt that such an hour of opportunity would present to the Mohammedans in the Nynee Tal Bazaar. Were they to rise while we were below, they might slaughter every soul of them in a single hour, and the more easily, should the rebels below agree, as they likely would, to attack us at both passes at once, so as to divide our little force.
The distance from Nynee Tal to Almorah is thirty miles over the mountains, by a path which varies from four to six feet in width. It runs in some places on the very verge of precipices that are as nearly perpendicular as possible, while the depths below are sometimes frightful to look at. It requires great steadiness and care, from the rough and narrow path to be traversed, to go without danger, while in some places a single false step, especially at night, is instant destruction.
