own, by the defence of Ambur and the
capture of Suwarndrug. A few hours after Clive's arrival, Mr. Drake
had made a formal complaint of the assault which Charlie had
committed; but after hearing, from Charlie, an account of the
circumstances, Clive sent a contemptuous message to Mr. Drake, to the
effect that Charlie had only acted as he should himself have done,
under the same circumstances; and that, at the present time, he should
not think of depriving himself of the services of one gallant soldier,
even if he had maltreated a dozen civilians.

As Clive had been given paramount authority in Bengal, and as Mr.
Drake had every reason to suppose that he, himself, would be recalled
as soon as the circumstances attending the capture of Calcutta were
known in England, he was unable to do anything further in the matter,
and Charlie landed with Clive on the 28th. The force consisted of two
hundred and fifty Europeans, and twelve hundred Sepoys, who were
forced to drag with them, having no draft animals, two field pieces
and a waggon of ammunition.

The march was an excessively fatiguing one. The country was swampy in
the extreme, and intersected with watercourses; and, after a terribly
fatiguing night march, and fifteen hours of unintermittent labour,
they arrived, at eight o'clock in the morning, at the hollow bed of a
lake, now perfectly dry. It lay some ten feet below the surrounding
country, and was bordered with jungle. In the wet season it was full
of water. On the eastern and southern banks lay an abandoned village,
and it was situated about a mile and a half from the fort of Baj-baj.

Clive was ill, and unable to see after matters himself. Indeed,
accustomed only to the feeble forces of Southern India, who had never
stood for a moment against him in battle, he had no thought of danger.
Upon the other hand the troops of the nabob, who had had no
experience, whatever, of the superior fighting powers of the
Europeans; and who had effected so easy a conquest at Calcutta,
flushed with victory, regarded their European foes with contempt, and
were preparing to annihilate them at a blow.

Manak Chand, the general commanding the nabob's forces, informed by
spies of the movements of the English troops, moved out with fifteen
hundred horses and two thousand foot. So worn out were the British
upon their arrival at the dried bed of the lake that, after detaching
a small body to occupy a village near the enemy's fort, from whic