1 A GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE JUMMOO FAMILY. 253
2 mate of his dwelling at the time, sent her off with it from the
3 rear of the hut to hide herself and the bird in some thick
4 jungles that were near. He then, watching- his opportunity
5 when his unwelcome visitors were busily engaged with their
6 meal, rushed upon them sword in hand, and before they could
7 recover from the surprize and confusion into which his sudden
8 assault threw them, he had despatched seven and mortally
9 wounded four of the panic-stricken party. Only two of the
10 thirteen returned to Jummoo to tell the tale. Deedoo now re-
11 joined his wife in the jungles, and as he could no longer live in
12 that neighbourhood, he took to the hills, an outlawed robber,
13 carrying murder and rapine through the country, but reserving
14 his special attentions for the district subject to the authorities at
15 Jummoo.
16 Sometimes in these exploits he wasat thehead of two thousand
17 armed men, outlaws like him self, and sometimes he was alone. He
18 was favoured, and when need was, sheltered and protected by the
19 people of the country, who were well disposed towards any one
20 who had the will and power to harrass and annoy the Seik in-
21 truders. There was a garrison of about two thousand men in
22 Jummoo, but Deedoo hesitated not to attack the place on seve-
23 ral occasions by night or by day, though his force sometimes
24 numbered only fifty or sixty men. In one of these assaults
25 he burnt down nearly the whole place and carried off a
26 great part of the moveable property of the Seik inhabitants.
27 After these exploits he would disappear as suddenly as he came,
28 and the Seiks never ventured to pursue him a musket shot from
29 the walls. It is said that seldom fifteen days passed without an
30 achievement of this kind, and according to tradition, Deedoo,
31 from time to time, slew, with his own hand, above three hundred
32 of his enemies, the Seiks. On more than one occasion, this
33 bold brigand has been known to enter Jummoo at the dusk
34 of the evening with a band of two or three hundred men,
35 the garrison offering no resistance, but hiding themselves