bare as the bogs of ould Ireland, without the blessings of the
pigs and potatoes, to say nothing of the colleens."

"No, Tim, I'm afraid we're going to stop where we are, for a bit. The
council of war have decided not to fight."

"Shure and that's bad news," Tim said. "The worst I've heard for many
a day. What if there be fifty thousand of 'em, Mister Charles, haven't
we bate 'em at long odds before, and can't we do it agin?"

"I think we could, Tim," Charlie replied; "but the odds of fifty-three
heavy cannon, which the spies say they've got, to our ten popguns, is
serious. However, I'm sorry we're not going to fight, and I'm afraid
that you must make up your mind to the wet, and Hossein his to giving
me bad dinners for some weeks to come; that is to say, if the enemy
don't turn us out of this."

A few minutes later, Lieutenant Peters entered the tent.

"Is it true, Charlie, that we are not going to fight, after all?"

"True enough," Charlie said. "We are to wait till the rains are over."

"Rains!" Peters said, in disgust; "what have the rains got to do with
it? If we had a six weeks' march before us, I could understand the wet
weather being a hindrance. Men are not water rats, and to march all
day in these heavy downpours, and to lie all night in the mud, would
soon tell upon our strength. But here we are, within a day's march of
the enemy, and the men might as well get wet in the field as here.
Everyone longs to be at the enemy, and a halt will have a very bad
effect.

"What have you got to drink, Charlie?"

"I have some brandy and rum; nothing else," Charlie said. "But what
will be better than either for you is a cup of tea. Hossein makes it
as well as ever. I suppose you have dined?"

"Yes, half an hour ago."

Just as Charlie finished his meal, Major Eyre Coote put his head into
the tent.

"Marryat, the chief has changed his mind. We cross the river the first
thing in the morning, and move at once upon Plassey."

"Hurrah!" Charlie shouted; "Clive is himself again. That is good news,
indeed!"

"You will move your Sepoys down to the river at daybreak, and will be
the first to cross. There is no chance of any opposition, as the spies
tell us that the nabob has not arrived yet at Plassey."

Several other officers afterwards dropped into the tent, for the news
rapidly spread through the camp. There was, as had been the case at
the council, considerable differences of opinion as to the prudence of
the m