, remained quietly asleep, and a few minutes after
daybreak they were roughly awakened, by a deadly fire poured by six
guns into the camp. The rajah sent messenger after messenger to Forde,
urging him to return; and he himself, with his frightened army,
hurried towards Condore. Forde had, indeed, retraced his steps
immediately he heard the fire of the guns, and soon met the rajah's
rabble in full flight; and, uniting with them, marched back to
Condore.

Conflans supposed that the fire of his guns had driven the whole of
his opponents in a panic from Chambol; and, determining to take
advantage of the confusion, marched with his force against them. Forde
at once prepared for the battle. In the centre he placed the English,
including the rajah's forty Europeans. Next to these, on either side,
he placed his Sepoys, and posted the troops of Anandraz on the right
and left flanks. He then advanced towards the enemy.

The French guns opened fire. Forde halted. In the position in which he
found himself, his centre occupied a field of Indian corn, so high
that they were concealed from the enemy. Conflans had moved towards
the English left, with the intention, apparently, of turning that
flank; and after the artillery battle on both sides had continued for
forty minutes, he ordered his troops to advance.

In Madras, both the English and French dress their Sepoys in white. In
Bengal, however, since the raising of Sepoy regiments after the
recapture of Calcutta, the English had clothed them in red. Conflans,
therefore, thought that the force he was about to attack was the
English contingent; and that, if he could defeat this, the rout of his
enemy would be secured. The French advanced with great rapidity, and
attacked the Sepoys in front and flank, so vigorously that they broke
in disorder. The rajah's troops fled instantly; and, in spite of the
exhortations of Forde, the Sepoys presently followed their example,
and fled with the rajah's troops to Chambol, pursued by the enemy's
horse.

They would have suffered even more severely than they did, in this
pursuit, had not Charlie Marryat launched his little squadron at the
enemy's horse. Keeping his men well together, he made repeated
charges, several times riding through and through them; until at last
they desisted from the pursuit and, forming in a compact body, fell
back towards the field of battle; Charlie, who had already lost twelve
men, not thinking it prudent again to att