He did not strike me as a man of eminent ability

From The Great Mutiny by Christopher Hibbert. Page 179.

' He was far from good-looking,' added an Englishman who saw him at Bithur. 'The forehead was low, the nose rather broad at the nostrils, and his teeth irregular and discoloured. His eyes were expressive and full of cunning, like those of most Asiatics; but he did not strike me as a man of eminent ability.' In this the Englishman was wrong. Tatya Tope was to distinguish himself as one of the most talented of all the rebel leaders.

Once the rebel army was reorganized, order was imposed upon the city by the appointment of Nana Sahib's adoptive brother, Baba Bhat, as chief of the judiciary. Baba Bhat, described as 'a dirty-looking fellow, wearing green spectacles across his nose, with an unwieldy turban on his head', dispensed justice perched on the corner of a billiard-table in a small house near the Post Office, surrounded by 'a host of scribes, smartly dressed . . . ready to catch a word that might fall from his "Excellency's" lips'. Despite his eccentric appearance Baba Bhat was a shrewd judge and an extremely severe one, passing sentences much more harsh than those which would have been delivered in the time of the Company's rule, reviving Hindu criminal law and punishing prisoners with mutilation. He was assisted in his work by an efficient kotwal who had previously worked for the Company's police and had replaced two less capable appointees, one of whom had been dismissed after being seen mounted on a horse with a famous courtesan. A Superintendent of Supplies was also appointed and given authority to imprison those unwilling to do business with him.