Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c49.3

v4.c49.3

Sulking over this discomfiture, Holkar's contingent (working hand in glove with Ali Bahādur's one thousand to 1200 horsemen), in the next battle, at Mertā, did not unite with Sindhia's force, but stood in angry isolation one mile in the rear of Mahādji's cavalry and therefore fully two miles behind De Boigne's battle-front. In the first stage of that battle when his right wing was separated from the rest of the brigade owing to Captain Rohan's tactical blunder in advancing too far alone, and that wing was scattered by a Rajput charge, the news quickly reached the Holkar cavalry that the campoo had been broken; they could even see the fleeing sepoys and the pursuing Rajputs straight in their distant front.