In Clive's Command: A Story of the Fight for IndiaStrang, Herbert
History
In Clive's Command: A Story of the Fight for India
Strang, Herbert
Clive, Robert Clive, Baron, 1725-1774 -- Fiction; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Fiction
By nine o'clock Clive had landed his troops. They bivouacked on the
shore, in expectation of storming the fort next day. At daybreak an
officer was sent into the fort with a flag of truce to demand its
surrender. This being refused, the admiral ordered his ships to warp
within a cable's length of the walls in three fathoms and a quarter
water, and the attack was renewed by sea and land, Clive gradually
advancing and worrying the enemy with his cannon. At two o'clock a
magazine in the fort blew up, and not long after, just as Clive was about
to give the order to storm, a white flag was seen fluttering at one of
the bastions.
A messenger was sent to the governor to arrange the capitulation, but
when he was met by prevarication and pleas for delay the bombardment was
once more resumed. A few minutes of this sufficed to bring the defenders
to reason, and by five o'clock the English flag flew upon the walls.
Clive postponed his entry until dawn on the following morning.
"By Jove, Mr. Burke," he said to Desmond, who showed him the way to the
palace, "if we had been within these walls I think we could have held out
till doomsday."
All the English officers were impressed by the strength of the
fortifications. Besides Angria's two hundred and fifty cannon, an immense
quantity of stores and ammunition fell into the hands of the captors. In
the vaults of the palace were found silver rupees to the value of one
hundred thousand pounds, and treasure worth thirty thousand pounds more.
The capture had been effected with the loss of only twenty killed and
wounded.
Desmond took the earliest opportunity of seeking the body of Fuzl Khan.
Fortunately the fires and the noises of the night had preserved it from
mangling by wild beasts. The poor man lay where he had fallen, near the
body of the overseer.
"Poor fellow!" thought Desmond, looking at the strong, fierce face and
the gigantic frame now stiff and cold. "Little he knew, when he said he'd
serve me to his life's end, that the end was so near."
He had the body carried into the town, and reverently buried according to
Mohammedan rites. From the lascar he had learned all that he ever knew of
the motives of the Gujarati's action. Desmond had hardly left the boat
when the man sprang quickly after him, saying briefly:
"I go to guard the sahib."
It was like the instinctive impulse of a faithful dog; and Desmond often
regretted the loss of the man who had shown himself so capable of
devotion.
That evening Clive summoned Desmond to attend him in the palace. When he
entered the durbar hall he saw, seated on the dais, a small group
consisting of Clive, Admiral Watson, and two or three subordinate
officers. Standing in front of them was Diggle, in the charge of two
marines.
"How many European prisoners have been released, Mr. Ward?" the admiral
was saying.
"Thirteen, sir; ten English and three Dutch."
"Is that correct, Mr. Burke? Was that the number when you were here?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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