Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/39

Book VI. demand the chout, or a fourth part of the revenues of the three provinces for the three last years. They likewise demanded that he should oblige himself to pay this tribute regularly in future, and that some officers deputed by the Morattoes should be employed in all the departments of the revenues, in order to ascertain and secure their proportion. They moreover required him to deliver up the treasures of the two last Nabobs, Soujah and Suffraze Khan, or to pay the equivalent.

Allaverdy, on hearing these imperious terms, ordered the deputies to quit his camp, with a defiance fraught with contempt to their general. The next day he renewed his march in open day, in full sight of the enemy, who soon broke and dispersed his infantry, but were not able to make impression on his cavalry. The Pitans were commanded by an officer named Mustapha Khan, whom they not only revered as their hereditary chief, but loved as the bravest soldier amongst them: Allaverdy himself, his nephew Zaindee Hamed, Meer Jaffier his brother-in-law, and all the other officers of distinction, continually presented themselves against the most dangerous onsets; and such examples could not fail to animate their followers. Before night they had advanced fifteen miles in their way, when they halted in a strong situation: the next day the march was renewed with the same courage and success: and on the evening of the third day they arrived at the town of Cutwah, situated about thirty miles south of Muxadavad, on the bank of the Cossimbuzar river, which in this part is fordable during the dry season of the year.

About 500 of the cavalry were killed during the retreat, but more horses perished; for only 3000 men mounted arrived at Cutwah, where they remained several days in order to recover their fatigue, having scarcely slept since they left their camp at Burdawan. The Morattoes, in the mean time, assembled round Cutwah, and persuaded themselves that Allaverdy would wait for reinforcements from Muxadavad before he attempted to pass the river. Great, therefore, was their surprize and admiration, when they saw him