om his return to his capital; and as
Meadows has a force of fifteen thousand men, he ought to be able to
crush the tyrant at a blow.

"I fear, however, there is little chance of this. The Mysore troops
move with great rapidity, and as soon as Tippoo hears that the English
army is marching towards Caroor, he is sure to take the alarm, and by
this time has probably passed Coimbatoor on his way back. With all his
faults, Tippoo is a good general, and the Nabob's opinion--and I quite
agree with him--is that, as soon as he regains the table land of
Mysore, he will take advantage of the English army being far away to
the south, and will pour down through the passes into this part of the
Carnatic, which is at present absolutely defenceless. This being the
case, I shall at once get ready to leave for Madras, and shall move as
soon as I learn, for certain, that Tippoo has slipped past the
English.

"The Nabob has called upon me to join him with my little body of
cavalry, and as soon as the news comes that Tippoo is descending the
passes, I shall either join him or the English army. That will be a
matter to decide afterwards."

"You will take me with you, of course, Uncle?" Dick asked eagerly.

"Certainly, Dick. If you are old enough to undertake the really
perilous adventure of going up in disguise to Mysore, you are
certainly old enough to ride with me. Besides, we may hope that, this
time, the war is not going to be as one-sided as it was the last time,
and that we may end by reaching Seringapatam; in which case we may
rescue your father, if he is still alive, very much more easily than
it could be managed in the way you propose."

The news that the English army had marched to Caroor, and that there
was no force left to prevent the Mysoreans from pouring down from the
hills, spread quickly; and when Dick went out with the two boys into
the town, groups of people were talking earnestly in the streets. Some
of them came up, and asked respectfully if there was any later news.

"Nothing later than you have heard," Dick said.

"The Rajah is not going away yet, Sahib?"

"No; he will not leave unless he hears that Tippoo has returned, with
his army, to Seringapatam. Then he will go at once, for the sultan
might come down through the passes at any moment, and can get here a
fortnight before the English army can return from Caroor."

"Yes; it will be no use waiting here to be eaten up, Sahib. Do you
think Conjeveram would be