fire of the guns of the castle, and pursued by that of
the battery, retreated, having lost some hundreds of their number;
besides a hundred and fifty of their best men, prisoners in the deep
trench around the battery.

These were summoned to surrender; and, resistance being impossible,
they at once laid down their arms. Ladders were lowered to them, and
they were marched as prisoners to the fort.

The next morning, when the defenders of the fortress looked over the
valley, the great camp was gone. The nizam and Bussy, despairing of
the possibility of carrying the position, at once so enormously strong
by nature, and so gallantly defended, had raised the siege; which had
cost them over two thousand of their best soldiers, including two
hundred French killed and prisoners, and retreated to the plateau of
the Deccan.

The exultation of the rajah and his troops was unbounded. They felt
that, now and henceforth, they were safe from another invasion; and
the rajah saw that, in the future, he should be able to gain greatly
increased territory, as the ally of the English. His gratitude to
Charlie was unbounded, and he literally loaded him with costly
presents.

Three weeks later, a letter was received by the latter from Mr.
Saunders, congratulating him upon the inestimable service which he had
rendered, and appointing him to the rank of captain in the Company's
service. Now that the rajah would be able to protect himself, should
any future assault be made upon him--an event most unlikely to happen,
as Bussy and the nizam would be unwilling to risk a repetition of a
defeat, which had already so greatly injured their prestige--he had
better return to Madras, where, as Mr. Saunders said, the services of
so capable an officer were greatly needed. He warned him, however, to
be careful in the extreme how he made his way back, as the country was
in a most disturbed state, the Mahratta bands being everywhere out
plundering and burning.

Subsequent information, that the Mahrattas were swarming in the plains
below, determined Charlie to accept an offer which the rajah made him;
that he should, under a strong escort, cross the mountains, and make
his way to a port on the west coast, in the state of a friendly rajah,
where he would be able to take ship and coast round to Madras. The
rajah promised to send Charlie's horses and other presents down to
Madras, when an opportunity should offer; and Charlie, accompanied by
the four Sepoys