destined to experience more annoyance from the great apprehension of
being attacked which existed amongst our followers, than from any
well-founded anticipation of it; their fears were not totally
groundless, as it must be confessed that to a needy and disorganized
population the bait of a lac of rupees was very tempting.

[*Note: lac, lakh (-k), n. (Anglo-Ind.). A hundred thousand
(usu._ of rupees)_.]

We had chosen a picturesque little garden for our resting place, the
treasure and remount horses with the Sipahi guard being encamped about
half a mile off to our rear. At about eleven at night the European
sergeant in charge of the horses burst into our tent in some
consternation, stating that a large band of robbers were descending
from the adjacent hills to attack the treasure. Sturt immediately
jumped up, and mounting his horse gallopped off to the supposed scene
of action. All was quiet _without_ the camp; _within_ there was a
terrible bustle, which Sturt at last succeeded in allaying by sending
out patrols in various direction, who reported that nothing could be
either heard or seen of the dreaded robbers. Being rather averse to
these nocturnal diversions, especially as they promised to be of
frequent occurrence, I made careful inquiries to ascertain if there
were any real foundation for the alarm, but all I could learn was,
that the neighbourhood had always been noted for robbers, who hasten
towards the point upon the report of any party worth plundering
passing near any of their forts. Possibly some robbers had gained
intelligence of our treasure, and had actually appeared on the hills,
but on discovering the strength of our party had retired.

The next day our route lay through delicious fields of ripening