Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/232

204 "Thomas commenced his ambitious career in 1794, after he left the Bígam Sombre's service, by collecting a few men near Dehli, with whom he stormed a large village. The little money he acquired from this village laid the foundation for his future hopes and prospects; he made a few guns, enlisted more men, raised two battalions, and besieged parts of the desolated country of Hariáná. * * * He increased his forces by plunder; the brass and copper vessels he found in the towns and villages were melted into cannon, and cannon procured him money. Thus he proceeded some time, gradually raising his forces as he augmented his means to pay them, until 1797, when they amounted to four battalions. He then cleared away the jungle from the abandoned fort of Hánsi, and put it in a state of defence. His range of depredations now became more extensive and his resources greater. At last, in 1801, he raised his party to ten battalions with sixty pieces of cannon, and secured a country to himself of three lakhs a year."

Such, in brief, is the outline of the history of the rise of George Thomas. But there are other details, not uninteresting, which served to help him on. Such was his adoption by Appú Khandi Ráo immediately subsequent to their joint visit to Dehli in 1794 to receive investiture of their fiefs from the local representative of Daolát Ráo Sindia. It was on this occasion that Appú Khándí conferred upon Thomas the right to