Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/420

396 The experience of the very few days that the fort had been invested, had convinced the Nabob of the increasing inconveniences which he and his family would suffer by continuing in it through the siege; and the garrison still more wished to be freed from the useless consumption and embarrassment of his retinue, which consisted of 400 men, with 200 horses, besides other cattle, who, nevertheless, could not decently be dismissed whilst he remained. It was therefore resolved, with mutual satisfaction, that he should proceed by sea with his wife, women, and children, and their immediate attendants, on board the Dutch snow, which was to land them at the Dutch settlement of Negapatam; from whence, being in the Tanjore country, they might proceed securely to Tritchinopoly. They embarked, attended by one of the council, on the night of the 20th, and before morning were out of sight; the Nabob's dependents were then told, that they might provide for their own safety, and in a few nights most of them quitted the town. On the 16th at night, a sally was made to the north by 40 Europeans, and as many Sepoys; but they were discovered before they got clear of the glacis, and returned without firing. Two sallies were made on the night of the 19th; the one by 20 Europeans and 30 Sepoys, under the command of Ensign Bonjour, who proceeded to the northward under the beach to the first houses beyond the esplanade, when some of the Sepoys cried out they saw horse, and giving a scattering fire took flight, which obliged the Europeans, after giving theirs, to retreat likewise; but before they were out of reach, they received the enemy's, by which one was killed and two wounded. The other sally was of 1000 Sepoys, under the command of Jemaul Saheb, to the southward; they were to beat up a guard posted at the garden-house, and then proceed to St. Thomé, in order to seize a piece of battering cannon which was waiting there for bullocks, under the escort of a company of Sepoys: they marched over the Triplicane-bridge, but had scarcely got into the St. Thomé Road, when they received a fire from the first enclosure on the left, which threw the whole body into a panick, and all, excepting