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 558 HISTOKY OF INl^IA. [Book III.

AD. 1767. of the ground tlieir progi-ess might eawily have been 8t<")pped; Vjut Clive, unwill- ing either to divide liis force or to conirnence hostilities while the lea«t lioj)e of accommodation remained, allowed them tf) pa«.s. Most of them sprea^l them- selves along the ground outside the ditch, but a predatory horde, anned only with clubs, entered the Company's teiritory, and were engaged in pillaging the houses of the natives in the north part of the town, when a detachment posted at Perring's Redoubt sallied out and expelled them. New bodies of the enemy continued to arrive, and coolly began to entrench themselves in a large garden midway between the head of the lake and the ditch, and about a mile and a half from the British camp. This in.sult was not to be borne, and yet the only punishment which it provoked was an ineffective cannonade. The uaiK.bs Next momiug the main body of the enemy appeared, following the direction to the of the van, but so eagerly was the hope of a possible accommodation still clung deputies, ^o, that ou tlic nabob again proposing a conference at a village six miles to the north, two deputies were sent. On arriving they found, as might have been anticipated, that the nabob had started some hours before. They followed on his track, and found him seated in quarters which he had taken up in Omichund's garden, in the north-east part of the Company's territory, within the ditch. It is difficult to account for the inertness manifested b}' Clive on this occa- sion. All the advantages derived from his fortified camp were apparently lost without any attempt to turn them to account, and at least part of the enemy had without molestation interposed between him and Calcutta. The deputies might now have considered their business at an end. Tlie nabob by hastening on with his army, without waiting for them, had given the most significant intimation of his designs. They were determined, however, not to be balked of an interview, and succeeded in obtaining it. P.oydullub, the dewan, on their introduction to him by Runjeet Roy, deemed their application for an interview, under the circumstances, so strange, that he suspected them of being assassins, and insisted on having their swords. They refused to be so insulted, and were conducted to the durbar or coimcil. Besides the nabolj and his principal officers, many others of inferior degree were present. These had apparently been selected for the largeness of their stature, and the ferocity ot their coimtenances. To give them a still more terrific appearance they were cb'essed in thick stuffed dresses, with enormous turbans, and kept scowHng at the deputies, as if they only waited the signal to miu"der them. After expostu- lating with the nabob for entering the Company's limits, while amusing them with offers of peace, the deputies produced a paper of proposals. The nabob, after reading them and refen-ing to the dewan, dismissed the assembly. The deputies, on leaving, were whispered by Omichund to take care of themselves. Alanned before, they now set no limits to their fears, and, ordering then- attendants to extinguish the lights, that the path they took might not be seen, hastened off without waiting to confer with the dewan.