Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/475

Book X. at three o'clock in the morning, it was discovered that they had advanced some gabions on the edge of the surf beyond the Palmyra stockade, which indicated that they either intended to bring cannon against the fascine battery, or to advance by traverses under cover of the beach which was steep, and then attack the covered-way and the fascine battery together: a strong fire was kept up from the fascine battery upon the stockade, and the gabions they had advanced until the morning. Tn these 24 hours no guns were dismounted in the fort, but three Europeans were killed, and four, with one Sepoy, wounded. The mine under the enemy's battery at the salient angle of the covered-way was completely stopt up before noon; and three pioneers, covered at night by ten grenadiers, were continued at the counterscarp in readiness to make the explosion. It being discovered at day-break of the 14th, that the enemy had renewed their gabions beyond the stockade, a sally was made upon them at sun-rise. A subaltern and 15 men went along the coveredway till they came upon the flank of the stockade, 40 men with two captains advanced directly in front of it along the glacis, followed by 20 pioneers and an engineer without arms. The two parties attacked at the same instant, and their first fire drove the enemy from the stockade, and continued firing forwards from it on all that appeared; at the same time the north ravelin, the royal, the demi, and N. E. bastions plyed the trenches with grape shot, and all together deterred the enemy from venturing out of them, which gave the pioneers leisure to overturn the gabions into the sea, and to spread and level the earth they contained. After which, the whole detachment returned unmolested into the covered-way, having only two men slightly wounded. The enemy's fire continued as the day before, but they threw very few shells in the night, during which they worked hard in replacing the gabions which had been overset in the morning, and endeavoured to complete the traverse from them towards the surf; but the fire of a twelve-pounder from the fascine battery, and the shells from the demi bastion, continually interrupted their work. In the evening the Diligent, and a sloop with stores from Pondicherry, anchored in the road of St.