g
this movement. "They must be Frenchmen sent from Brassy--unless they
are some of those that escaped from Chander Nugger."

While he was speaking the fire from the tank was taken up by the rest
of the Nabob's artillery, and a roar arose from the whole face of the
advancing army. Colonel Clive watched the result closely for a few
minutes.

"They are doing very little harm," he observed. "They fire too high.
Most of the balls are passing over the heads of our men. But it will
not do for us to stay in the shelter of the grove; they may think we
are afraid of them."

He hurried down to the ground, bidding me keep near him, and went to
where our men were waiting, just within the ditch which enclosed the
grove. One Sepoy had been killed by the discharge from the tank, and
three or four wounded, but otherwise we had not suffered.

The Colonel quickly made his dispositions, and the little force
marched boldly out from its shelter and faced the enemy. At this the
whole Moorish army halted, still out of point-blank range, and
contented themselves with continuing their artillery fire, which we
returned as best we could with our few guns. Colonel Clive passed to
and fro along the line several times, noting everything that happened,
and anxiously watching for some symptom of the promised desertion by
Meer Jaffier. But nothing happened, the Moor's infantry remained
steady in our front, and the dark masses of cavalry continued to hang
threateningly on our flank.

"I have brought my men out to give Meer Jaffier his chance," said
Colonel Clive to me in a low tone, "but if he is afraid to move, we
are done. It is impossible to order an advance in face of that army."

He walked down the line once again, and counted our casualties. By
this time we had lost ten Europeans, and about twice as many Sepoys.

"That is enough," the Colonel exclaimed sharply. "It is useless to
expose the men for nothing. Retire into the grove again."

This order was executed, and the enemy, appearing to gather courage
from our retreat, advanced their artillery nearer, and quickened their
fire. However, their aim continued very bad, most of the shot merely
struck the branches of the trees, and the men were ordered to lie down
for the sake of greater safety. I was pleased to observe that all,
even the Sepoys and Topasses, displayed the utmost coolness and
confidence. Several powder explosions happened about this time in
different places in the enemy's ran