Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/102

96 thick woods, which they entered, marching in a file of four abreast. The advanced guard were 400 Sepoys, under the command of an officer named Mahmood Khan. After marching five hours, in which they had only advanced nine miles, some parties of the enemy were descried forward in the road; on which Mahmood Khan, as if impatient to attack them, quickened the pace of the Sepoys. The captain of the grenadiers, whose company followed next in the line, sent orders to him to halt, which he disregarded; and as soon as the Sepoys were out of sight, some irregular firing was heard: soon after came a messenger, requesting the grenadiers would advance to their assistance, who he said were surrounded by the enemy; but the captain having suspicions, sent forward scouts, who discovered the banners of the Sepoys mixing quietly with those of the enemy. This treachery was effected by the intrigues of Murzafar Khan, who was here in person, and immediately began to attack the French line with these very Sepoys, and the whole of the infantry of Salabadjing's army sent on this service, which was committed to his direction. Besides the usual and lighter arms a part of the infantry wielded 2000 caytocks, a fire-arm frequently made use of in Europe in the early times of gun-powder, and then called a wallpiece; but at present rarely used, excepting in Indostan and the easternmost parts of Asia: it is a gun eight or ten feet in the barrel, carrying a ball of one, two, or three ounces; and under the middle of the barrel is fixed by a swivel, either one iron spike, or two, which open crossways, and being stuck in the ground support the piece, and assure its aim: it carries far point blank, but the larger siezes are so unwieldy, that two men are required to move and manage them, and they can scarcely be fired quicker than a piece of cannon. Parties were continually detached to dislodge these caytocks, and whatsoever other troops were annoying the line from the rocks and thickets on either hand. At noon the line came to open ground, where they halted; and the fall of a heavy shower of rain damaged the enemy's powder, and put an end to their attacks.