Shivaji and His Times c8.s31.26

c8.s31.26

For one month after the second sack, "the town was in so great a confusion that there was neither governor nor Government," and almost every day was troubled by rumours of Shiva's coming there again. "On the 12th (i. e., only a week after his departure) it was again rumoured that he was returning with 6,000 horse and 10,000 foot, and that he had already reached Pent, a place about 25 miles distant. At once there was a general exodus and the town was changed from a busy port into the death-like quiet of a desert. The Turkish, English and French merchants abandoned their factories." But the Dutch, 52 men in all, with flags flying and drums beating proceeded from their ship to their factory. This was their belated imitation of the English demonstration of January 1664, when "the English President, at the head of some 200 men, had marched through the town, declaring that he meant to withstand Shivaji with this handful of men!" (Dutch Records, Trans., Vol. 29, letter No. 763 and Vol. 27, No. 719.)