Page:Early English adventurers in the East (1917).djvu/302

 on the side of the besieged the Moguls landed a force of several hundred cavalry and artillery on the island, captured an unfinished battery, killed one of the English officers who was sick and carried off his wife and child into captivity. They would assuredly have captured the fort if the English had not rallied and after a desperate fight driven the assailants off. But though victory was temporarily won, the general situation was blacker than ever. Charnock had buried half his men, and of the other half only one hundred were fit for duty. Of the forty officers who had originally been of the expedition actually only one remained at his post.

Charnock, surveying the situation with the eye of an intelligent though amateur strategist, came to the conclusion that a move must be made to protect the approach to the landing place if absolute disaster was to be avoided. A suitable position existed in a solidly constructed building about halfway to the landing stage which he had used as a battery. This post, together with the one at the landing place, was strengthened by the calling in of the small vessels which had been posted around the island. With the additional men obtained from the shipping Charnock maintained a gallant fight against the Mogul troops which were besieging the fort. He succeeded in keeping the enemy at a respectful distance, but whether unaided he could have maintained the unequal struggle for any lengthened period is doubtful, having regard to the steady depletion of his forces by disease.

Happily for him, happily for the cause of which he was the faithful champion, at the critical moment there appeared on the scene a welcome reinforcement of men in a ship which had arrived from Europe. This detachment