Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/69

Rh urgently needing repair it is not easy to imagine why Sir Edward Hughes wasted that precious fortnight in idle bravado. This at least is certain, that it gave Suffren the opportunity he was longing for.

The state of his vessels and the necessity for procuring ammunition rendered it impossible for Sir Edward Hughes to keep the sea for more than a fortnight. He steered then for Madras and reached that place on the 20th July. He at once took the necessary measures for the repairs of his fleet. Here also he was joined by the Sceptre and the San Carlos. Sir Edward Hughes thought, and he seemed to have reason for his opinion, that he had sufficient time before him. He knew to a great, though not to the fullest extent, the difficulties his rival had to encounter at Kadalúr. Had he known the whole truth, he would have felt still more confident, for, on the 30th July, ten days subsequently to his own arrival at Madras, the state of the French ships of war was so miserable, and the resources at the disposal of Suffren were so limited, that action for the remainder of the year seemed for them impossible.

On that date Suffren thus wrote to the Governor of the Isle of France, M. de Souillac: "I assure you it is no easy matter to keep the sea on a coast, without money, without magazines, with a squadron in many respects badly furnished, and after having sustained three combats. * * I am at the end of my resources. Nevertheless we must fight to gain Ceylon; the enemy have the wind of us and we have so many