Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/232

221 Englishman, attacked and wounded him in two places with his sword; but finding himself on the point of being overpowered, ran away to the lower pagoda: captain Clive, exasperated at this insolence from a man whom he imagined to be in his own service, followed him to the gate, where, to his great surprize, he was accosted by six Frenchmen: his usual presence of mind did not fail him in this critical occasion, but suggesting to him all that had happened, he told the Frenchmen, with great composure, that he was come to offer them terms; and if they would lookout, they would perceive the pagoda surrounded by his whole army, who were determined to give no quarter if any resistance were made. The firmness with which these words were delivered, made such an impression, that three of the Frenchmen ran into the pagoda to carry this intelligence, whilst the other three surrendered their arms to captain Clive, and followed him towards the choultry, whither he hastened, intending to order the Europeans to attack the body of Sepoys, whom he now first knew to be enemies; but these had already discovered the danger of their situation, and had marched out of the reach of the Europeans, who imagining that they did this in obedience to captain Clive's orders, made no motion to interrupt or attack them. Soon after, eight Frenchmen, who had been sent from the pagoda to reconnoitre, fell in with the English troops, and were made prisoners; and these, with the other three which captain Clive had taken, were delivered to the charge of a Serjeant's party, who not knowing in this time of darkness and confusion, that the enemy were in possession of the lower pagoda, carried them thither; and on delivering them to the guard, found out their error; but such was also the confusion of the French in the pagoda, that they suffered the Serjeant and his party to return unmolested. The rest of the English troops had now joined the others, and captain Clive imagining that the enemy would never have attempted so desperate an enterprize without supporting it with their whole army, deemed it absolutely necessary to storm the pagoda before the troops who were in it could receive any assistance. One of the two folding doors of the gateway had for some time been taken down to be repaired, and the other was strongly stapled down, so that the remaining part of