A History of the Mahrattas v1.c17.118

v1.c17.118

Shirzee Khan, Abdool Raoof, Seedees Zalim and Jumshed were the officers who defended the fort under the young prince Sikundur. The garrison was not numerous, but, although ill-paid and short of provisions, they still showed some remains of Patan valour and fought with obstinacy. The Emperor, as he saw they must surrender, and as the occasion was not pressing, prudently deferred the assault after the breach was practicable, choosing rather to trust a little to the effects likely to be produced in them by reflection on their hopeless situation embittered by privation, than to assault men, who under such circumstances would have fought with desperation and exulted in an opportunity of dying with their swords in their hands.