Manazil al-futuh 1.2.3

1.2.3

and at the time of their moving off from their position, such clouds of dust ascended up to heaven from beneath their horses' hoofs, that the bright day appeared to all eyes darker and gloomier than the murky shades of a pitch-black night; in so much that two persons seated side by side could not distinguish each other. Ahmad Sultan then commissioned Shah Pasand Khan,—who was both a great chieftain and charkhi-bashi, as well as commander of the vanguard, and darogha of the stable,—the harkaras and the paiks, to go and procure information as to the state and strength of the Mahratta army. The chief in question, taking the author of this work, and ten other dauntless cavaliers from amongst his relatives and dependents along with him, pursued the road to their camp in the intense obscurity with perfect certainty, as there had been daily skirmishes with them on the plains, and a thorough knowledge of all the paths had been acquired. In the course of four hours we had advanced half a kos, when at that moment the noise of artillery wheels struck on the sensitive ears of the author and his comrades, while the tramp of our horses' hoofs also reached the ears of the enemy's gunners. They immediately suspected that a force from the Abdali army was advancing under cover of the dense clouds of dust to make an assault, and fired several rounds, the shot of which passed close by our horsemen.