Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/46

40 to guard the elephant on which Allaverdy rode, fired a volley directed against the person of Mustapha Khan, and killed him; on which Sumsheer Khan gave the signal of retreat, and, passing at a distance from Zaindee Hamed's march, retreated out of the province, and proceeded to his own country, to the east of the Jumna.

After the battle, Hodgee, who had accompanied his brother, went to Patna, in order to superintend the civil administration of Behar; and having brought with him the head of Mustapha Khan, caused it to be carried on a pole round the city, during which procession it was insulted by the multitude with, every indignity. Allaverdy hastened back to Bengal, which, during his absence, had been exposed to the return and depredations of the whole body of Morattoes, which he had driven out of Orixa. Thus ended the year 1746. Continual marches and a few indecisive skirmishes employed him until the end of 1747, when events of more dangerous consequence called forth the exertion of his utmost resolution. Meer-abib, who, since his defection, had lost no opportunity of distressing Allaverdy, had entered into a correspondence with Sumsheer Khan, immediately after the death of Mustapha; in consequence of which the Pitan, with 8000 of his countrymen, appeared in December on the bank of the Ganges, opposite to the city of Patna; which intending to surprize, he tendered the service of his troops to Zaindee Hamed. Hodgee, it is said, had received some intelligence of the connexion existing between Sumsheer Khan and Meer-abib; and advised his son to project an interview, in which all the Pitan officers might be blown up by a mine of gunpowder; but Zaindee Hamed, suspecting his father's intelligence, rejected the proposal, and waited for the orders of Allaverdy; who instructed him to inlist the Pitans, and afterwards to take the first opportunity of destroying their chiefs. Accordingly, the terms of agreement were settled, and the principal officers, accompanied by 2000 of their soldiery, crossed the river: they were received by Zaindee Hamed in a tent pitched at a little distance from the city. Sumsheer