and that he was in kind hands. That is all in favour of my
finding him, still alive, in one of the places we shall take, for Lord
Cornwallis intends to besiege some of the fortresses that command the
passes, because he cannot undertake another siege of Seringapatam
until he can obtain supplies, freely and regularly, from beyond the
ghauts; as nothing whatever can be obtained from the country round, so
completely is it wasted by Tippoo's cavalry. I have, therefore, great
hopes that my father may be found in one of these forts."

"I hope, indeed, that you may find him. I am convinced that the
governor would save his life, if he could do so; though, on the other
hand, he would, I am sure, carry out any order he might receive from
Tippoo. Of course, he may not be in charge of a fort now, and may have
been appointed colonel of one of the regiments. However, it is always
better to hope that things will come as you wish them, however
unlikely it may seem that they will do so. We have been living on hope
here, though the chances of our ever being released were small,
indeed. Of course, we did not even know that Tippoo and the English
were at war, until we heard that an English army was besieging
Bangalore; and even then we all felt that, even if Tippoo were beaten
and forced to make peace, it would make no difference to us. He kept
back hundreds of prisoners when he was defeated before, and would
certainly not surrender any he now holds, unless compelled to do so;
and no one would be able to give information as to the existence of
captives in these distant forts.

"And yet, in the teeth of all these improbabilities, we continued to
hope, and the hopes have been realised."

The capture of forts by the Mahratta army was abruptly checked.
Having, so far, met with such slight opposition, Purseram Bhow became
over confident, and scattered his force over a wide extent of country,
in order that they might more easily find food and forage. In this
condition they were suddenly attacked by Tippoo, who took advantage of
the English being detained at Bangalore, while the transport train was
being reorganised, to strike a blow at the Mahrattis.

The stroke was a heavy one. Many of the detached parties were
completely destroyed; and the Mahratta general, after gathering the
rest to his standard, was forced to retreat, until strong
reinforcements were sent him from Bangalore.

Learning, from them, that it was probable Lord Cornwallis wo