Page:History of the French in India.djvu/104

 82 THE RISE OF THE FRENCH POWER IN INDIA. chap, the principal officers were killed or trodden under foot J 111 ^, by elephants, and the slaughter was unprecedented 1740. even in that age. No rout could have been more com- plete. The account of this defeat spread dismay and con- sternation in the Karnatik. Safdar Ali, the son of the deceased Nawwab, received the news when he had advanced as far as Arkat ; he immediately, for greater security, moved at the head of his forces to Vellur, which was better fortified, there to wait the course of events. Chanda Sahib, more dilatory, had not moved beyond the boundary of his satrapy. The intelligence he received determined him to remain within it, and to place its chief city in the best possible state of defence. He returned, therefore, to Trichinapalli. On one important matter, however, the two brothers- in-law acted as though they had been inspired by one brain. Regarding the result of the contest with the Marathas as extremely uncertain, they bethought them of the protection which the fortifications of Pondichery might be able to offer, and they determined to consign, the one his father's family, the other his own, with ali the valuables that could be lightly carried, to the courtesy of M. Dumas. M. Dumas was placed, by the result of the battle, in very much the same position as that in which M. Martin had found himself after the defeat of Sher Khan Lodi, by Sivaji. On that occasion, as on this, the Marathas had completely defeated the actual rulers of the country — the allies and protectors of the French. There was, however, this difference, that the Pondichery governed by M. Dumas was far more capable of offering an effec- tive resistance than the infant city under the rule of Francis Martin. But M. Dumas, notwithstanding his confidence in the defences of Pondichery, was very well aware of the difficulties of his position, and he prepared to act with his usual prudence and judgment. He