Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/79

Rh A bold suggestion of Clive's was now acted upon by the commander of the British expedition. It was to divide the small force under his command, and, while one-half remained at Trichinopoly, to post the other half between Seringham and Pondicherry, in order to cut off the communication on which the French must now depend for their supplies. Major Lawrence justly considered Clive as the fittest man to undertake the command of the separate body; but a difficulty existed in the fact that all the captains in the battalion were his seniors. It was removed by the native generals of the allied forces, who unanimously declared that they would not detach any of their troops for the purpose unless Clive had the command. The matter being finally arranged, the favourite captain marched on the 6th of April, with four hundred Europeans, double the number of Sepoys, four thousand native horse, and eight pieces of artillery. He took post at a fort a few miles from Seringham, and on the high road to Arcot and Pondicherry.

Dupleix, who was greatly dissatisfied with the prospect of affairs at Trichinopoly, had sent a considerable reinforcement thither, under Mons. d'Auteuil; and Clive, on being apprised of its approach, marched out to intercept it; but not having fallen in with it, and supposing it to have gone back to Pondicherry, he returned to his fort. Meanwhile, the French commander at Seringham, hearing of Clive's departure, but not of his return, resolved to take advantage of it, by attacking the few troops which had been left in possession of the British posts; and, with this view, he despatched eighty Europeans and seven hundred Sepoys, aided by the services of eighty English deserters.

Through a mistake at one of the outposts the attempt of the enemy had nearly succeeded. The party being challenged, answered that they were friends; and one of the deserters stepping forward, stated that they had been despatched by Major Lawrence to reinforce Captain Clive. This assertion, corroborated by the fact of so many of the party speaking English, satisfied the guard. The strangers