mpression of the events of a lifetime within so
restricted a space. I have therefore chosen two outstanding events in the
history of India--the capture of Gheria and the battle of Plassey--and
have made them the pivot of a personal story of adventure. The whole
action of the present work is comprised in the years from 1754 to 1757.

But while this book is thus rather a romance with a background of history
than an historical biography with an admixture of fiction, the reader may
be assured that the information its pages contain is accurate. I have
drawn freely upon the standard authorities: Orme, Ives, Grose, the lives
of Clive by Malcolm and Colonel Malleson, and many other works; in
particular the monumental volumes by Mr. S.C. Hill recently published,
"Bengal in 1756-7," which give a very full, careful and clear account of
that notable year, with a mass of most useful and interesting documents.
The maps of Bengal, Fort William and Plassey are taken from Mr. Hill's
work by kind permission of the Secretary of State for India. I have to
thank also Mr. T. P. Marshall, of Newport, for some valuable notes on the
history and topography of Market Drayton.

For several years I myself lived within a stone's throw of the scene of
the tragedy of the Black Hole; and though at that time I had no intention
of writing a story for boys, I hope that the impressions of Indian life,
character and scenery then gained have helped to create an atmosphere and
to give reality to my picture. History is more than a mere record of
events; and I shall be satisfied if the reader gets from these pages an
idea, however imperfect, of the conditions of life under which all empire
builders labored in India a hundred and fifty years ago.

Herbert Strang

Chapter 1: In which the Court Leet of Market Drayton entertains Colonel
Robert Clive; and our hero makes an acquaintance.

One fine autumn evening, in the year 1754, a country cart jogged
eastwards into Market Drayton at the heels of a thick-set,
shaggy-fetlocked and broken-winded cob. The low tilt, worn and ill
fitting, swayed widely with the motion, scarcely avoiding the hats of the
two men who sat side by side on the front seat, and who, to a person
watching their approach, would have appeared as dark figures in a
tottering archway, against a background of crimson sky.

As the vehicle jolted through Shropshire Street, the creakings of its
unsteady wheels mingled with a deep