and found that Forde had marched on the previous day. He
started at once, and on the evening of the 3rd came up to Forde, who
had arrived in sight of the French position.

Charlie had already made the acquaintance of Colonel Forde in Bengal,
and Forde was glad to obtain the assistance, and advice, of an officer
who had seen so much service. An hour after arriving, Charlie rode out
with his commander and reconnoitred the French position; which was,
they concluded, too strong to be attacked. In point of numbers, the
forces were about even. Conflans had, in addition to his five hundred
Europeans, six thousand native infantry, five hundred native cavalry,
and thirty guns. Forde had four hundred and seventy Europeans, one
thousand nine hundred Sepoys, and six guns. Anandraz had forty
Europeans, five thousand infantry, five hundred horsemen, and four
guns. These five thousand men were, however, a mere ragged mob, of
whom very few had firearms, and the rest were armed with bows and
arrows. His horsemen were equally worthless, and Forde could only rely
upon the troops he had brought with him from Calcutta, and the troop
of fifty natives under Charlie Marryat.

Finding that the French position was too strong to be attacked, Forde
fell back to a strong position at Chambol, a village nearly four miles
from the French camp. Here, for four days, the two armies remained
watching each other, the leaders of both sides considering that the
position of the other was too strong to be attacked.

Chapter 26: The Siege Of Madras.

At last, weary of inactivity, the Marquis de Conflans and Colonel
Forde arrived simultaneously, on the 8th of December, at a
determination to bring matters to a crisis. Conflans had heard, from a
deserter, that Forde had omitted to occupy a mound which, at a short
distance from his camp, commanded the position. He determined to seize
this during the night, and to open fire with his guns, and that his
main army should take advantage of the confusion, which the sudden
attack would occasion, to fall upon the English. Forde, on his part,
had determined to march at four o'clock in the morning to a village
named Condore, three miles distant, whence he could threaten the
French flank.

Ignorant of each other's intentions, the English and French left their
camps at night. Forde marched at a quarter past four, as arranged with
Anandraz; but the rajah and his people, with the usual native aversion
to punctuality