Page:History of the French in India.djvu/385

 THE FRENCH PROVE THEIR STEEL. 361 It was indeed the first time that the Marathas had ^^ p * regularly met a European enemy on the open field — for the Maratha contingent in the Karnatik had consisted 1751. of comparatively a handful, and they had there acted the part of auxiliary skirmishers rather than of an in- dependent force. But Bussy had now before him the flower of the Maratha army — and of the Maratha army in its best form. The Marathas were at that time the rising power of Hindustan. The warriors of that people had not then begun to depart from the traditions, an adherence to which had made them a nation. Their splendid horsemanship, their long endurance, their ability to move without tents, without baggage of any sort, without other supplies than those which each individual soldier carried upon his horse, had combined with their daring tactics to render them superior to those Muhammadan armies, which a long course of misgovernment and want of system had ruined. The luxurious equipments of the armies of Aurangzeb formed a striking contrast to the unostentatious camps of Akbar, and from the time of the death of Aurangzeb even the appearance of discipline had ceased. The Mughal armies, 'hopeless of victory, conscious of the incapacity of their leaders, half beaten before they had struck a blow, felt themselves unfit to make head against the new power that was gradually overwhelm- ing southern India. Bussy was well aware of this. Full well did he know that the issue of the contest that day depended upon himself and his soldiers, upon those French whom he had led almost across the continent ; who, starting from the waters of the Bay of Bengal, were now strain- ing their eyes to gaze upon the Arabian Sea. He waited for attack, however, full of confidence. At length it came. The clouds of dust, the loud tramp of countless horses, could forebode nothing else. It was clear that 40,000 of the choicest horsemen of the East