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83 cut to pieces, gave instructions for advance, at the same time directing a division on his left to wheel up and take the enemy in the rear and flank. This skilful manoeuvre at the opportune time decided the fate of the battle. All at once, as if by miracle, the whole Marahatta army turned back and fled at full speed, leaving the battle-field covered with the dying and dead. The Commander-in-Chief of the Marhatta forces, the heir-apparent to the throne, and almost all the chief officers and the greater part of the army perished in battle or in flight. The pursuit by moonlight cost the fleeing multitude tens of thousands of their precious lives; their ponies were easily overtaken by the swift-footed Afghan horses. Later a glimpse of the tragedy was given by a banker's letter to one of his correspondents, which ran : "Two invaluable pearls have been dissolved, twenty-seven gold Mohurs have been lost, and of the silver and copper coins the total cannot be easily estimated." By the pearls he means the commander and the next in command of the Marhatta forces, while gold Mohurs refer to officers that had fallen in the battle. Almost all the Marhatta chiefs were either killed or