ABSTRACT
General Lake was the father of four lovely daughters, who presided over the festivities. 'The finest wines of every clime, from the exhilarating Sheeraz of Persia to the ruby Carbonelle and humble Port, abounded'. Enemy cavalry who had surrendered and were being formed into a corps of Company irregulars saw James Skinner riding with Lake. Skinner's Horse was formed accordingly, the premier cavalry regiment of the Indian Army. Skinner, playing a detached part, an unemployed spectator as yet, watched two sepoys trying to rob a British soldier carrying a bag of money. Lake was the best type of English traditional general, active and affable and bluff, the fox-hunter on parade. War to Lake was merely fox-hunting on a grand scale and its tactics were exactly similar. The Governor-General, calling in all Mahadaji Sindhia's British nationals, promised them something better than beggary, offering them the same rank and pay as they possessed already.
