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192 On the 26th of May, the Governor-General commenced his retrograde march; and as he was retiring in a most shattered condition upon Bangalore, the strength of the men failing for want of food, and the sick being with the utmost difficulty dragged along, his troops were alarmed by the appearance on their left of a large body of cavalry, apparently the vanguard of a numerous army. This was not a point from which an attack had been apprehended; but, from knowing the rapidity with which the cavalry of Tippoo moved in all directions, no doubt was entertained that the approaching horsemen belonged to his army, and that they would immediately fall on the stores and baggage. Colonel Stuart, who commanded in the rear, instantly prepared to resist the attack; and the British had begun to fire, when one of the horsemen rode towards a staff-officer who was giving some orders, and, shouting that he was a Mahratta, intreated that the firing might cease. Similar communications were made at the head of the column, and the British commander found himself suddenly reinforced by two Mahratta armies, under Purseram Bhow and Hurry Punt.

These chiefs had taken the field in good time; but an unfortunate delay had been occasioned by the siege of Darwar, a very strong place considerably to the northward, which Tippoo had carefully fortified and garrisoned with his best soldiers. An English detachment was acting with the Mahrattas, as with Nizam Ali; it consisted of two battalions of Sepoys, and three companies of Artillery, two native and one European. Seconded by this detachment, Purseram Bhow broke ground before Darwar in September, 1791; but our officers were almost distracted to see the manner in which this important siege was conducted. The Mahrattas, in working a battery, never pointed their cannon so as to make a breach in a particular spot, but aimed at random all round the wall. After loading a gun they sat down, smoked, and conversed for half an hour; then fired, reloaded, and