With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an Empire

by G. A. Henty

Hossein returned an hour later.

"Sahib," he said, "Ramajee Punt is thinking of cheating the English. He is keeping Angria a prisoner. He says that he came into his camp without asking for a safe conduct; and that, therefore, he shall detain him.

"But this is not all. Angria has left his brother in command of the fort; and Ramajee, by threatening Angria with instant execution, has induced him to send an order to deliver the fort at once to him. Ramajee wants, you see, Sahib, to get all the plunder of the fort for himself, and his Mahrattas."

"This is very serious," Charlie said, "and I must let the admiral know, at once, what is taking place."

When it became dark, Charlie, with Tim and Hossein, made his way through the Mahratta camp, down to the shore of the river. Here were numbers of boats, hauled up on the sand. One of the lightest of these was soon got into the water, and rowed gently out into the force of the stream. Then the oars were shipped, and they lay down perfectly quiet in the boat, and drifted past the fort without being observed.

When they once gained the open sea, the oars were placed in the rowlocks, and half an hour's rowing brought them alongside the fleet. Charlie was soon on board the flagship, and informed the admiral, and Colonel Clive, what Hossein had heard.

It was at once resolved to attack upon the following day. The two officers did not think it was likely that the pirates would, even in obedience to their chief's orders, surrender the place until it had been battered by the fleet.

The next morning, the fort was summoned to surrender. No answer was received, and as soon as the sea breeze set in, in the afternoon, the fleet weighed anchor and proceeded towards the mouth of the river. The men-of-war were in line, on the side nearest to the fort, to protect the mortar vessels and smaller ships from its fire.

Passing the point of the promontory, they stood into the river, and anchored at a distance of fifty yards from the north face of the fort. A gun from the admiral's ship gave the signal, and a hundred and fifty pieces of cannon at once opened fire, while the mortar vessels threw shell into the fort and town. In ten minutes after the fire began, a shell fell into one of Angria's large ships, and set her on fire. The flames soon spread to the others, fastened together on either side of her, and in less than an hour this fleet, which had for fifty years been the terror of the Malabar coast, was utterly destroyed.

In the meantime the fleet kept up their fire, with the greatest vigour, upon the enemy's works; and, before nightfall, the enemy's fire was completely silenced. No white flag, however, was hung up, and the admiral had little doubt that it was intended to surrender the place to the Mahrattas.