Page:History of the French in India.djvu/434

 408 THE FALL OF DUPLEIX. chap. 8, all his arrangements having been made, without any IX ' suspicion existing on the part of the English, Mainville 1753. determined to put his plan into execution. His orders were clear and precise ; 600 Europeans supported by 200 more and the sipahis, were to attack and carry the work covering the gateway known as Dalton's battery. As there were here but fifty sipahis, Mainville antici- pated that this could be accomplished easily and without firing a shot. He, therefore, gave the strictest orders to abstain from firing. This work carried without alarming the garrison, it was determined to dash round the traverses, of which there were two, and apply a petard to the gate of the town, or should that fail, to attempt to escalade — the walls here being but eighteen feet above the rock ; — for this purpose ladders had been prepared. Following this arrangement Mainville crossed the Kavari at 3 o'clock on the morning of the 9th, and suc- ceeded in reaching the base of the outwork without having been perceived. The 600 Frenchmen escaladed this place and surprised the sipahis, whom they found mostly asleep. Had they then but pushed forward, had they obeyed Mainville's instructions to abstain from firing, nothing could have saved Trichinapalli. But instead of thus acting, their evil genius prompted them to turn two of the 12-pounders which they had captured and found loaded against the walls of the town. They accompanied this fire by a volley of small arms and by shouts of Vive le Hoi. The effect of this fire was to rouse the garrison. Under orders received from Captain Kilpatrick, the command- ant, detachments instantly proceeded to their respective alarm posts ready to receive the enemy. Meanwhile the French, after their insane and useless volley, pressed along the passage round the traverses, and under the guidance of an English deserter followed closely by twc men carrying petards, had arrived within a short distance