to the Nawab's previous ones.

"'How?' said the Nawab, looking angrily at me instead
of at Mr. Watts: 'who am I then?' All the members of his
Court cried out together that his orders would certainly be
attended to."

As Law expected, Chandernagore was attacked before the Admiral's
reply was received. Law received the news on the 15th, and hurried
to the Nawab. Reinforcements were ordered and counter-ordered. At
midnight the Nawab's eunuch came to inform Law that the English had
been repulsed with loss, and on the morning of the 16th the Nawab's
troops were ordered to advance, but when the same day news came that
the French had withdrawn into the Fort, every one cried out that the
Fort must fall, and that it was mere folly to incense the English by
sending down troops. They were immediately recalled. Then news
arrived that the Fort was holding out, and Rai Durlabh Ram was
ordered to advance. Again there came a false report that the Fort
had fallen. Law knew Rai Durlabh was a coward, and his whole
reliance was on the second in command, Mir Madan:--

"a capable officer, and one who would have attacked the
enemy with pleasure."

This Mir Madan is said to have been a Hindu convert to
Muhammadanism. Native poems still tell of the gallantry with which
he commanded the Hindu soldiers of the Nawab. He was one of the
first to fall at Plassey, and though it cannot be said that his
death caused the loss of the battle, it is certain that it put an
end to all chance of the victory being contested.

Law was at his wits' end. It was no time to stick at trifles, and,
that he might know the worst at once, he intercepted Mr. Watts's
letters. From them he gathered that the English intended to march
straight upon Murshidabad. He set about fortifying the enclosure
round the French Factory, and, as he had only 10 or 12 men, he
induced the Nawab to send him a native officer with 100 musketeers.
He soon learned that the reported English advance was merely the
pursuit of the fugitives from Chandernagore, who were mentioned in
the last chapter. By the end of March he had 60 Europeans:--

"of whom the half, in truth, were not fit to serve; but what
did that matter? The number was worth 120 to me outside
the fort, since rumour always delights in exaggeration."

Of the sepoys also, whom the English set free, some 30 found their
way to Law, and so far was he now from being afraid of Mr. Watts,
that it was the latter who ha