l be here. Bengal is overawed, and so long as I maintain the force
I now have, it is unlikely in the extreme to rise; whereas battles and
sieges, great and small, are the normal condition of Madras."

The next day Charlie, with two hundred European troops, marched down
towards Calcutta. Clive had told him to select any officer he pleased
to accompany him, as second in command; and he chose Peters, who,
seeing that there were likely to be far more exciting times in Madras
than in Bengal at present, was very glad to accompany him. Three days
after reaching Calcutta, Charlie and his party embarked on board a
ship, which conveyed them without adventure to Madras.

The authorities were glad, indeed, of the reinforcement; for the
country was disturbed from end to end. Since the departure of every
available man for Calcutta, the Company had been able to afford but
little aid to Muhammud Ali, and the authority of the latter had
dwindled to a mere shadow, in the Carnatic. The Mahrattas made
incursions in all directions. The minor chiefs revolted and refused to
pay tribute, and many of them entered into alliance with the French.
Disorder everywhere reigned in the Carnatic, and Trichinopoli was,
again, the one place which Muhammud Ali held.

The evening after landing, Charlie Marryat had a long chat with
Colonel Lawrence; who, after explaining to him exactly the condition
of affairs in the country, asked him to tell him, frankly, what
command he would like to receive.

"I have thought for some time," Charlie said, "that the establishment
of a small force of really efficient cavalry, trained to act as
infantry, also, would be invaluable. The Mahratta horsemen, by their
rapid movements, set our infantry in defiance; and the native horse of
our allies are useless against them. I am convinced that two hundred
horsemen, trained and drilled like our cavalry at home, would ride
through any number of them. In a country like this, where every petty
rajah has his castle, cavalry alone could, however, do little. They
must be able to act as infantry, and should have a couple of little
four-pounders to take about with them. A force like this would do more
to keep order in the Carnatic than one composed of infantry, alone, of
ten times its strength. It could act as a police force, call upon
petty chiefs who refuse to pay their share of the revenue, restore
order in disturbed places, and permit the peasants to carry on their
agricultural wor