Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/110

Rh muskets, and their camp equipage in the hands of the victors.

Here was an opportunity! Had Dupleix, like his great rival, been endowed with the supreme faculty of a great commander and been present; had Bussy been there, or De la Touche; or had there been a man in command who possessed the ordinary instinct of the fighting soldier, the question of supremacy in Southern India would have been decided on that 20th of July. There was the English force, comprising, within 300, the entire troops at the disposal of the English Company, in full flight, having lost their guns, their camp equipage, their supplies, their retreat covered by a rabble of native cavalry, who would have dispersed at the first charge. Within a mile or two of them was the victorious French force, flushed with victory, at least equal in numbers, supported by 17,000 native troops commanded by the Nuwáb of the Karnátik in person. To settle the question of supremacy in Southern India it was requisite merely that the French commander should utter but one word—a word which inferior or timid commanders are always unwilling to utter—a word, nevertheless, which spoken when fighting against Asiatics has never been known to fail—the word 'Forward.' Let the reader realise the huddled mass of 500 Englishmen, 100 Africans, and 1000 sipáhis, hurrying from the field under the July sun of Southern India, panic-stricken and helpless, having abandoned everything. For the moment they were cowed, unable to listen to