On our road we passed several villages that had been burned to the ground; poor, naked, and plundered creatures, men, women, and children; burning corn-fields; dead elephants, camels, horses, and bullocks; and the road was strewed with moah-berry, on which they feed their horses for the purpose of making them drunk, in which state it is incredible the astonishing distance they will go, though you can count their ribs a mile off. The rear-guard of the enemy generally kept their eye on our advance-guard, detaching parties on each of our flanks, and, by way of amusement, giving us occasionally a shot. I recollect, on one of these day's marches, a most impudent fellow, mounted on a beautiful horse, and finely bedizened, came within two hundred yards of our column, passing upon us some unpleasant epithets, and once or twice firing his matchlock. He at last wounded a man of the native cavalry. This so annoyed me that I asked his lordship if he would permit me to attack him. His answer was, "Oh, never mind him, Shipp: we will catch him before he is a week older." I never in my life felt more inclined to disobey orders, for he was still capering close by us. An officer commanding one of the six-pounders came up at the same time, and told his lordship that, if he would permit him, he would knock him over, the first shot, or lose his commission. His lordship said, "Well, try." At this moment the fellow fired his matchlock again, and immediately commenced reloading his piece. Our gun was unlimbered, laid, and fired; the ball striking the horse's rump, passed through the man's back, and the poor animal's neck, and we said, "So much for the Pin."
We marched, on the average, about twenty-five miles a day; but we were obliged to push our poor horses on even faster than this, for Holkar was making his way to Futtyghur, a small military station. This is a rich city; and, no doubt, his inclination was to plunder and burn it. He arrived at Furrackabad, about three or four miles from the above station, the day before us, for the purpose of exacting money from the rajah there. The little force at the station was withdrawn from the barracks, and placed for the protection of the mint, which had a short time before been established there. In the evening they arrived, and on the morning of the same day we marched upwards of twenty miles, halted till eight o'clock at night, then made ourselves as light as possible, and again moved on, intending to surprise them before daylight the following morning. We had twenty-eight miles to accomplish before that time, and there is no doubt, from the judicious arrangement made for this attack, by his excellency the commander-in-chief, that scarcely a man would have escaped us, had not a most unfortunate circumstance occurred, which was near destroying all our plans. An ammunition-tumbrel belonging to one of our six-pounders, from the rapid rate at which we were moving, blew up within half a mile of the enemy; who were buried in the arms of sleep, they having made a forced march, so as to prevent the possibility of our reaching them. This alarmed a few of those who happened to be awake; but they supposed it the station-gun at Futtyghur. This station-gun was really fired about ten minutes after, and some of them got on the move; but thousands of them were still asleep. I would recommend all officers who serve in India, to attack the enemy, if possible, in the night. At this time it often happens that not a single sentinel is to be found on the watch. This want of vigilance is to be attributed to their eating and smoking too much opium, a practice carried by them to such an excess as completely to deaden their faculties; from which, their stupor in sleep is so extraordinary, that if a gun were fired under a man's nose, he would scarcely have the power to awake.