[#] Agent.
"Certainly I did, sir."
"Well, as we are, I fear, sure to be cut off by water, may we not take to the land? Could not the gumashta get us a dozen hackeris[#]? We could transfer the goods to them and elude our pursuers perhaps long enough for help to arrive from Calcutta."
[#] Bullock-carts.
"That is good counsel, sir; why should we not do so?"
Accordingly, when they came to the spot where the high road crossed the river by a ford, Desmond ordered his men to row in to the left bank. Selecting two men who knew the country, he bade them land and make the best speed in carrying out instructions which he proceeded to give them.
"You, Mohun Lai," he said, "will go to Santipur, quickly, avoiding observation, and request the gumashta in Merriman Sahib's name to have twelve hackeris, or as many as he can collect, ready to receive loads two or three hours before to-morrow's dawn. He must get them from the villages, not from Khulna or Amboa, and he must not tell any one why he requires the carts. You, Ishan, will go on to Calcutta, find Merriman Sahib, and ask him to send a body of armed men along the Barrakpur road towards Santipur. You will tell him what we have done, and also that Cossimbazar Fort is in the hands of the Nawab, and Watts Sahib a prisoner. He may know this already. You both understand?"
The men salaamed and started on their journey.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND
In which is given a full, true, and particular account of the Battle of the Carts.