ght against
them under Hyder, and in the last war they again showed their valour;
and the strangest thing is that they make the natives under them fight
as bravely as they do themselves.

"As to forts, nothing is safe from them. Were all the troops of the
Nizam and the Mahrattis combined to besiege us, I should feel
perfectly safe; while were there but five hundred Englishmen, I should
tremble for the safety of the fortress. You have come up the hill, and
have seen for yourselves how strong it is; and yet they took the place
without the loss of a single man. I was not here, for I was in command
of Kistnagherry at that time, and succeeded in holding it against
their assaults. When the war was over, and Kistnagherry was ceded to
them, I was appointed to this fortress, which seems to me to be even
stronger than that was.

"The commander was a brave man, the garrison was strong, there was no
suspicion of treachery; and though, at last, the troops were seized
with a panic, as they might well be when they saw that they were
unable to arrest the advance of the enemy, the defence up to that time
had been stout. The English brought up guns, where it was thought no
guns could be taken. They knocked the defences to pieces; and, after
winning their way to the top, in one day captured this fort, and that
on the hill yonder. It seems miraculous."

Coffee was brought in, and pipes, for although Tippoo was violently
opposed to smoking, and no one would venture upon the use of tobacco
in the Palace or fort, old officers like the governor, in distant
commands, did not relinquish tobacco.

"It is necessary here," the governor said, as he filled his pipe. "The
country round is terribly unhealthy, and the air is full of fever. I
do not discourage its use among the men, for they would die off like
flies, did they not smoke to keep out the bad air. The climate is,
indeed, the best protection to the fort, for an army that sat down for
any length of time before it, would speedily melt away."

He opened a box that stood on the divan beside him.

"I have copies here," he said, taking some papers out, "of the
memorials that I have sent in to the sultan, as to the guns. This is
the last. It was sent in two months ago. You see I asked for
forty-nine heavy pieces. Of these, thirty are to replace guns that are
honeycombed, or split. The other eleven are for new works. I asked for
thirty-two lighter ones, or howitzers, and a hundred wall guns. O