cing. Here they remained in an inert mass, powerless to follow
Tippoo, and a complete barrier to the British advance. So
unaccountable was their conduct, that it was generally believed in the
army that it was the result of treachery; and it was with difficulty
that the British troops could be restrained from firing into the horde
of horsemen, who had, from the time they joined the force, been worse
than useless.

As soon as the British could make their way through, or round, the
obstacle to their advance, they pursued the retreating force of
Tippoo, until it took refuge under the guns of the works round
Seringapatam. Their loss had been 2000, that of the British 500.

But the success was of little benefit to the latter. The terrible
state of the roads, and the want of food, had caused the death of
great numbers of draught animals, and the rest were so debilitated as
to be absolutely useless; and during the two days' marches, that were
required to reach the point on the river previously determined upon,
the battering train, and almost the whole of the carts, were dragged
along by the troops.

The position of the army was bad in the extreme. Neither food nor
forage were to be obtained from the country round. The troops were
almost on famine rations, worn out by fatigue, and by the march
through heavy rains, and nights spent on the sodden ground. Tippoo's
horsemen hovered round them. The cavalry of the Nizam, which had been
specially engaged to keep the foe at a distance, never once ventured
to engage them. It was absolutely impossible to communicate with
General Abercrombie, and after remaining but a couple of days in his
new camp, Lord Cornwallis felt that the army could only be saved from
destruction by immediate retreat.

No time was lost in carrying out the decision, when once arrived at.
Some natives were paid heavily to endeavour to make their way to
Abercrombie, with orders for him to retire down the ghauts again into
Malabar. Then the whole of the battering train, and the heavy
equipments, were destroyed; and on the 26th of May, the army started
for its long march back to Bangalore.

It had made but six miles when a body of horsemen, some two thousand
strong, were seen approaching. Preparations were instantly made to
repel an attack, when a soldier rode in, and announced that the
horsemen were the advance party of two Mahratta armies, close at hand.
This was welcome news, indeed, for Lord Cornwallis had no i