With Clive in India Part 39

A day or two later Colonel Coote, advancing along the sea beach as if with a view of merely making a reconnaissance, pushed on suddenly, entered the village called the Blancherie, as it was princ.i.p.ally inhabited by washerwomen, and attacked the Madras redoubt. This was carried, but the same night the garrison sallied out again, and fell upon the party of Sepoys posted there. Ensign MacMahon was killed, but the Sepoys, although driven out from the redoubt, bravely returned and again attacked the French; who, thinking that the Sepoys must have received large reinforcements, fell back into the village; from which, a day or two later, they retired into the town.

The whole of the ground outside the fort, between the river Ariangopang and the sea, was now in the hands of the English. The French still maintained their communications with the south by the sandy line of coast. By this time the attacks, which the English from Trichinopoli and Madura had made upon the Mysoreans, had compelled the latter to make peace, and recall their army, which was still hovering in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry.

Charlie, who had been suffering from a slight attack of fever, had for some time been staying on board ship, for change. In the road of Pondicherry three of the French Indiamen, the Hermione, Baleine, and the Compagnie des Indes, were at anchor, near the edge of the surf, under the cover of a hundred guns mounted on the sea face of the fort. These ships were awaiting the stormy weather, at the breaking of the monsoon, when it would be difficult for the English fleet to maintain their position off the town. They then intended to sail away to the south, fill up with provisions, and return to Pondicherry.

Admiral Stevens, in order to prevent this contingency, which would have greatly delayed the reduction of the place, determined to cut them out. Charlie's health being much restored by the sea breezes, he asked leave of the admiral to accompany the expedition, as a volunteer. On the evening of the 6th, six-and-twenty of the boats of the fleet, manned by four hundred sailors, were lowered and rowed to the Tiger, which was at anchor within two miles of Pondicherry, the rest of the fleet lying some distance farther away.

When, at midnight, the cabin lights of the Hermione were extinguished, the expedition started. The boats moved in two divisions, one of which was to attack the Hermione, the other the Baleine. The third vessel lay nearer in sh.o.r.e, and was to be attacked if the others were captured.

The night was a very dark one, and the boats of each division moved in line, with ropes stretched from boat to boat, to ensure their keeping together in the right direction. Charlie was in one of the boats intended to attack the Hermione. Tim accompanied him, but the admiral had refused permission for Hossein to do so, as there were many more white volunteers for the service than the boats would accommodate. They were within fifty yards of the Hermione before they were discovered, and a scattering musket fire was at once opened upon them.

The crews gave a mighty cheer and, casting off the ropes, separated; five making for each side of the ship, while two rowed forward to cut the cables at her bows. The Compagnie des Indes opened fire upon the boats, but these were already alongside the ship, and the sailors swarmed over the side at ten points.

The combat was a short one. The seventy men on board fought bravely, for a minute or two, but they were speedily driven below. The hatches were closed over them, and the cables being already cut, the mizzen topsail, the only sail bent, was hoisted; and the boats, taking towropes, began to row her away from sh.o.r.e.

The instant, however, that the cessation of fire informed the garrison the ship was captured, a tremendous cannonade was opened by the guns of the fortress. The lightning was flashing vividly, and this enabled the gunners to direct their aim upon the ship. Over and over again she was struck, and one shot destroyed the steering wheel, cut the tiller rope, and killed two men who were steering. The single sail was not sufficient to a.s.sist in steering her, and the men in the boats rowed with such energy that the ropes continually snapped.

The fire continued from the sh.o.r.e, doing considerable damage; and the men in the boats, who could not see that the ship was moving through the water, concluded that she was anch.o.r.ed by a concealed cable and anchor. The officer in command, therefore, called up the Frenchmen from below, telling them he was about to fire the ship. They came on deck and took their places in the boats, which rowed back to the Tiger.

Upon arriving there Captain Dent, who commanded her, sternly rebuked the officer; and said that, unless the boats returned instantly and brought the Hermione out, he should send his own crew in their boats to fetch her. The division thereupon returned, and met the ship half a mile off sh.o.r.e, the land wind having now sprung up.

The Baleine had been easily captured and, having several sails bent, she was brought out without difficulty. No attempt was made to capture the third vessel.

The rains had now set in, but the English laboured steadily at their batteries. The French were becoming pressed for provisions, and Lally turned the whole of the natives remaining in the town, to the number of fourteen hundred men and women, outside the fortifications. On their arrival at the English lines they were refused permission to pa.s.s, as Colonel Coote did not wish to relieve the garrison of the consumption of food caused by them. They returned to the French lines, and begged to be again received; but they were, by Lally's orders, fired upon, and several killed.

For seven days the unhappy wretches remained without food, save the roots they could gather in the fields. Then Colonel Coote, seeing that Lally was inflexible, allowed them to pa.s.s.

On the 10th of November the batteries opened, and every day added to the strength of the fire upon the town. The fortifications, however, were strong, and the siege progressed but slowly. On the 30th of December a tremendous storm burst, and committed the greatest havoc, both at land and sea. The Newcastle, man-of-war; the Queenborough, frigate; and the Protector, fire ship were driven ash.o.r.e and dashed to pieces; but the crews, with the exception of seven, were saved. The Duke of Aquitaine, the Sunderland, and the Duke, store ship, were sunk, and eleven hundred sailors drowned. Most of the other ships were dismasted.

Chapter 30: Home.

The fire of the batteries increased, and by the 13th of January the enemy's fire was completely silenced. The provisions in the town were wholly exhausted, and on the 16th the town surrendered, and the next morning the English took possession. Three days afterwards Lally was embarked on board ship, to be taken a prisoner to Madras; and so much was he hated that the French officers and civilians a.s.sembled, and hissed and hooted him; and, had he not been protected by his guard, would have torn him to pieces. After his return to France he was tried for having, by his conduct, caused the loss of the French possessions in India, and being found guilty of the offence, was beheaded.

At Pondicherry two thousand and seventy-two military prisoners were taken, and three hundred and eighty-one civilians. Five hundred cannon and a hundred mortars, fit for service; and immense quant.i.ties of ammunition, arms, and military stores fell into the hands of the captors.

Pondicherry was handed over to the Company; who, a short time afterwards, entirely demolished both the fortress and town. This hard measure was the consequence of a letter which had been intercepted, from the French government to Lally, ordering him to raze Madras to the ground, when it fell into his hands.

Charlie, after the siege, in which he had rendered great services, received from the Company, at Colonel Coote's earnest recommendation, his promotion to the step of lieutenant colonel; while Peters was raised to that of major. A fortnight after the fall of Pondicherry, they returned to Madras, and thence took the first ship for England. It was now just ten years since they had sailed, and in that time they had seen Madras and Calcutta rise, from the rank of two trading stations, in constant danger of destruction by their powerful neighbours, to that of virtual capitals of great provinces. Not as yet, indeed, had they openly a.s.sumed the sovereignty of these territories; but Madras was, in fact, the absolute master of the broad tract of land extending from the foot of the mountains to the sea, from Cape Comorin to Bengal; while Calcutta was master of Bengal and Oressa, and her power already threatened to extend itself as far as Delhi. The conquest of these vast tracts of country had been achieved by mere handfuls of men, and by a display of heroic valour and constancy scarce to be rivalled in the history of the world.

The voyage was a pleasant one, and was, for the times, quick, occupying only five months. But to the young men, longing for home after so long an absence, it seemed tedious in the extreme.

Tim and Hossein were well content with their quiet, easy life, after their long toils. They had nothing whatever to do, except that they insisted upon waiting upon Charlie and Peters, at meals. The ship carried a large number of sick and wounded officers and men, and as these gained health and strength, the life on board ship became livelier, and more jovial. Singing and cards occupied the evenings, while in the daytime they played quoits, rings of rope being used for that purpose, and other games with which pa.s.sengers usually wile away the monotony of long voyages.

It was late in June when the Madras sailed up the Thames; and, as soon as she came to anchor, the two officers and their followers landed. The din and bustle of the streets seemed almost as strange, to Charlie, as they had done when he came up a boy, from Yarmouth. Hossein was astonished at the mult.i.tude of white people, and inquired of Charlie why, when there were so many men, England had sent so few soldiers to fight for her in India; and for once, Charlie was unable to give a satisfactory reply.

"It does seem strange," he said to Peters, "that when such mighty interests were at stake, a body of even ten thousand troops could not have been raised, and sent out. Such a force would have decided the struggle at once; and in three months the great possessions, which have cost the Company twelve years' war, would have been at their feet. It would not have cost them more; indeed, nothing like as much as it now has done, nor one t.i.the of the loss in life. Somehow, England always seems to make war in driblets."

Charlie knew that his mother and Kate had, for some years, been residing at a house which their uncle had taken, in the fashionable quarter of Chelsea. They looked in at the office, however, to see if Charlie's uncle was there; but found that he was not in the city, and, indeed, had now almost retired from the business. They therefore took a coach, placed the small articles of luggage which they had brought with them, from the ship, on the front seats; and then, Hossein and Tim taking their places on the broad seat beside the driver, they entered the coach and drove to Chelsea.

Charlie had invited Peters, who had no home of his own, to stay with him, at least for a while. Both were now rich men, from their shares of the prize money of the various forts and towns, in whose capture they had taken part; although Charlie possessed some twenty thousand pounds more than his friend, this being the amount of the presents he had received, from the Rajah of Ambur.

Alighting from the carriage, Charlie ran up to the door and knocked. Inquiring for Mrs. Marryat, he was shown into a room in which a lady, somewhat past middle age, and three younger ones were sitting. They looked up, in surprise, as the young man entered. Ten years had changed him almost beyond recognition, but one of the younger ones at once leaped to her feet, and exclaimed, "Charlie!"

His mother rose with a cry of joy, and threw herself into his arms. After rapturously kissing her, he turned to the others. Their faces were changed, yet all seemed equally familiar to him, and in his delight he equally embraced them all.

"Hullo!" he exclaimed, when he freed himself from their arms. "Why, there are three of you! What on earth am I doing? I have somebody's pardon to beg; and yet, although your faces are changed, they seem equally familiar to me. Which is it?

"But I need not ask," he said, as a cloud of colour flowed over the face of one of the girls, while the others smiled mischievously.

"You are Katie," he said, "and you are Lizzie, certainly, and this is--why, it is Ada!

"This is a surprise, indeed; but I sha'n't beg your pardon, Ada, for I kissed you at parting, and quite intended to do so when I met again, at least if you had offered no violent objection.

"How you are all grown and changed, while you, Mother, look scarcely older than when I left you.

"But there, I have quite forgotten Peters. He has come home with me, and will stay till he has formed his own plans."

He hurried out and brought in Peters; who, not wishing to be present at the family meeting, had been paying the coachman, and seeing to the things being brought into the house. He was warmly received, by the ladies, as the friend and companion of Charlie in his adventures; scarcely a letter having been received, from the latter, without mention having been made of his comrade.

In a minute or two Mr. Tufton, who had been in the large garden behind the house, hurried in. He was now quite an old man; and under the influence of age, and the cheerful society of Mrs. Marryat and her daughters, he had lost much of the pomposity which had before distinguished him.

"Ah! Nephew," he said, when the happy party had sat down to dinner, their number increased by the arrival of Mrs. Haines, who had a house close by; "wilful lads will go their own way. I wanted to make a rich merchant of you, and you have made of yourself a famous soldier. But you've not done badly for yourself after all; for you have, in your letters, often talked about prize money."

"Yes, Uncle. I have earned, in my way, close upon a hundred thousand pounds; and I certainly shouldn't have made that if I had stuck to the office at Madras, even with the aid of the capital you offered to lend me, to trade with on my own account."

There was a general exclamation of surprise and pleasure, at the mention of the sum; although this amount was small, in comparison to that which many acquired, in those days, in India.

"And you're not thinking of going back again, Charlie?" his mother said, anxiously. "There can be no longer any reason for your exposing yourself to that horrible climate, and that constant fighting."

"The climate is not so bad, Mother, and the danger and excitement of a soldier's life there, at present, render it very fascinating. But I have done with it. Peters and I intend, on the expiration of our leave, to resign our commissions in the Company's service, and to settle down under our own vines and fig trees. Tim has already elected himself to the post of my butler, and Hossein intends to be my valet and body servant."

Immediately after their arrival, Charlie had brought in his faithful followers and introduced them to the ladies; who, having often heard of their devotion and faithful services, had received them with a kindness and cordiality which had delighted them.

Lizzie, whose appearance at home had been unexpected by Charlie, for her husband was a landed gentleman at Seven Oaks, in Kent, was, it appeared, paying a visit of a week to her mother; and her three children, two boys and a little girl, were duly brought down to be shown to, and admired by, their Uncle Charles.

"And how is it you haven't married, Katie? With such a pretty face as yours, it is scandalous that the men have allowed you to reach the mature age of twenty-two, unmarried."

"It is the fault of the hussy herself," Mr. Tufton said. "It is not from want of offers, for she has had a dozen, and among them some of the n.o.bility at court; for it is well known that John Tufton's niece will have a dowry such as many of the n.o.bles could not give, to their daughters."

"This is too bad, Kate," Charlie said, laughing. "What excuse have you to make for yourself for remaining single, with all these advantages of face and fortune?"

"Simply that I didn't like any of them," Katie said. "The beaux of the present day are contemptible. I would as soon think of marrying a wax doll. When I do marry; that is, if ever I do, it shall be a man, and not a mere tailor's dummy."

"You are pert, miss," her uncle said.

"Do what I will, Charlie, I cannot teach the hussy to order her tongue."