‘Ya Futteh-o! Ya Alla Mousoof! A hog, and not a man, hath done this—a coward and a fool! not Syud Sahib, but Syud Ahmuk!—beaten—disgraced—foiled by the kafir English—forced to retire beyond the Bhowanee, and he is now close upon the Guzalhuttee pass. O saints and martyrs! grant me patience to read, to hear all;’ and he read on. ‘Reinforcements? infantry and guns?—that they may be led into evil, and lost to me! Never, by the Prophet! never, by the soul of my father!—may his sepulchre be honoured! Thou mayest even fight it out, Syud, or return disgraced; thou shalt have the option. What think you, sirs?’
‘It is heavy news,’ said Meer Sadik, ‘and enough to ruffle my lord’s temper; but the Syud is wary and cautious. Perhaps the English force is overwhelming, and he has wisely retired before it, drawing them into a snare, from whence it will be impossible to escape.’
‘Ha! thinkest thou so? By Alla! a good thought; he shall have the men and the guns; we will write the order now to the commanders of the Cushoons[[52]] to attend the evening Durbar.’
[52]. His division of regular infantry were so called.
‘I beg to represent,’ said Kishun Rao, ‘that in such an undertaking there is no one like thyself, O Sultaun; under thine own eye all will go well; without thee, there is fear and hesitation, for the responsibility is great.’
‘Well spoken,’ responded the monarch; ‘we have—blessed be the Dispenser of Wisdom!—such military skill, that before it the genius of the kafir English is nothing, and their livers become water. Was it not so in Baillie’s affair? Inshalla! then, we will lead this expedition, and there will be many such.’
‘And,’ continued the Rao, ‘what is there to prevent the victorious army, when it has driven the English beyond the boundary, to follow them to the gate of Madras—to burn, to slay, to plunder, and destroy all? The French, their bitter enemies, will rise upon them; and when the success is noised abroad, the Mahrattas, who hate them, and the Nizam, who is now under their power, will cast them off; and then what is to prevent the army of the Sircar Khodadad from driving them into the sea, and, with the power thus gained, of turning upon the faithless Nizam and destroying his power utterly? then shall Madras be the seaport of the Sultaun, and he may pitch his tents on the plain of Surroonuggur, and take his pleasure in the palace of the proud ruler of Hyderabad.’
‘Mashalla! Mashalla! Inspiration! Inspiration!’ exclaimed the Sultaun in rapture; ‘it shall be done; the thing is easy. Our dreams forewarned us of this, and behold, our destiny points to it. One victory gained, and the Mahrattas are on our side; Sindia and his power can be thrown into the scale: then with the Afghans, the Rohillas, the brave men of the Dekhan, the Assud Illahee, and the French—Ya Futteh-o! thou wilt grant victory, and our power will reach a pitch such as men will wonder at and admire.’