3. Dupleix also perceived that the army of a native prince was merely an armed rabble, and that a small disciplined force would easily beat it, even if that force was composed of merely well-drilled natives under European officers. He perceived that the natives, though not wanting in personal courage, were as babes in the art of warfare. When, for instance, they engaged in battle, the officer in command mounted an elephant and became the standard of his army. All eyes were turned towards him; as long as he was visible the troops rallied round him; directly he fell or turned they dispersed, and the day was lost. It was thus possible for a well-directed shot to decide the fate of a battle. 4. The opportunity which Dupleix wanted was not long in presenting itself. A dispute arose between two princes for the right to rule the Carnatic, a province of Southern India. The claimant whom Dupleix favoured soon triumphed over his rival, but he was a mere tool in the hands of his French patron, who became the real ruler of the province. And to impress the natives with a sense of his greatness, he clad himself in costly native dresses, trimmed with jewels, and required his attendants to serve him on bended knee. But Dupleix was not long left in the quiet enjoyment of his honours. 5. There was a clerk in the employ of our East India Company whose adventurous spirit urged him to quit the desk and gird on the soldier's sword. That man was Robert Clive, who proved to be one of the master-makers of our empire, and the founder of British rule in India. Clive showed himself to be a born leader of men, with a genius for war, as brave as the bravest, with a presence of mind that never forsook him however great the danger. Clive proposed to make a sudden dash on Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, about a hundred miles inland from Madras. His offer was accepted, and he set out from Madras at the head of 200 English soldiers and 300 Sepoys--natives armed and drilled after the European fashion--with eight English officers. 6. Clive made the journey by forced marches through the thunder and lightning and rain of the wet season, and so astounded the garrison of Arcot that they ran without striking a blow. A force of 3000 men soon appeared to drive out the intruders. In the middle of the night on which they arrived, while all of them were fast asleep, Clive--without waiting to be besieged, as he should have done by all the rules of Indian warfare--made a sudden sally, drove them headlong from the place, and returned without losing a single man. Somewhat later a force of 8000 men encircled the city, and for fifty days the young captain foiled all their efforts to take it.