Chapter 29: The Siege Of Pondicherry.
As the health of the two officers was shaken by their long and arduouswork, and their services were not, for the moment, needed, theyobtained leave for three months, and went down in a coasting ship toColumbo, where several English trading stations had been established.Here they spent two months, residing for the most part among thehills, at the town of a rajah very friendly to the English; and withhim they saw an elephant hunt, the herd being driven into a greatinclosure, formed by a large number of natives who had, for weeks,been employed upon it. Here the animals were fastened to trees bynatives, who cut through the thick grass unobserved; and were one byone reduced to submission, first by hunger, and then by being lustilybelaboured by the trunks of tamed elephants. Tim highly appreciatedthe hunt, and declared that tiger shooting was not to be compared toit.
Their residence in the brisk air of the hills completely restoredtheir health, and they returned to Madras perfectly ready to take partin the great operations which were impending. Charlie, on his return,was appointed to serve as chief of the staff to Colonel Coote; CaptainPeters being given the command of a small body of European horse, whowere, with a large body of irregulars, to aid in bringing in suppliesto the British army, and to prevent the enemy from receiving food fromthe surrounding country.
Early in June, the British squadron off the coast was joined by twoships of the line, the Norfolk and Panther, from England; and ahundred Europeans, and a detachment of European and native artillerycame down from Bombay.
Around Pondicherry ran a strong cactus hedge, strengthened withpalisades, and the French retired into this at the beginning of July.They were too strongly posted there to be attacked by the force withwhich the English at first approached them, and they were expectingthe arrival of a large body of troops from Mysore, with a great convoyof provisions.
On the 17th these approached. Major Moore, who was guarding theEnglish rear, had a hundred and eighty European infantry; fiftyEnglish horse, under Peters; sixteen hundred irregular horse; andeleven hundred Sepoys. The Mysoreans had four thousand good horse, athousand Sepoys, and two hundred Europeans, with eight pieces ofcannon.
The fight lasted but a few minutes. The British native horse andSepoys at once gave way; and the English infantry retreated, in greatdisorder, to the fort of Trivadi, which they gained with a loss offifteen killed and forty wounded. Peters' horse alone behaved well.Several times they charged right through the masses of Mysorean horse;but when five-and-twenty were killed, and most of the rest, includingtheir commander, severely wounded, they also fell back into the fort.
Colonel Coote, when the news of the disaster reached him, determined,if possible, to get possession of the fort of Vellenore, which stoodon the river Ariangopang, some three miles from Pondicherry, andcovered the approaches of the town from that side. The Englishencampment was at Perimbe, on the main road leading, through an avenueof trees, to Pondicherry. Colonel Coote threw up a redoubt on the hillbehind Perimbe, and another on the avenue, to check any French forceadvancing from Pondicherry. These works were finished on the morningof the 19th of July.
The next morning the French army advanced along the river Ariangopang,but Coote marched half his force to meet them, while he moved the restas if to attack the redoubts, interspersed along the line of hedge. Asthe fall of these would have placed the attacking force in his rear,Lally at once returned to the town. The same evening the Mysoreans,with three thousand bullocks carrying their artillery and drawingtheir baggage, and three thousand more laden with rice and otherprovisions, arrived on the other bank of the Ariangopang river,crossed under the guns of the redoubt of that name, and entered thetown.
The fort of Vellenore was strong, but the road had been cut straightthrough the glacis to the gate, and the French had neglected to erectworks to cover this passage. Coote took advantage of the oversight,and laid his two eighteen-pounders to play upon the gate, while twoothers were placed to fire upon the parapet. The English batteriesopened at daybreak on the 16th, and at nine o'clock the whole of theFrench army, with the Mysoreans, advanced along the bank of the river.
Coote at once got his troops under arms, and advanced towards theFrench, sending a small detachment of Europeans to reinforce theSepoys firing at the fort of Vellenore. By this time the batteries hadbeaten down the parapet, and silenced the enemy's fire. Two companiesof Sepoys set forward, at full run, up to the very crest of theglacis.
The French commander of the place had really nothing to fear, as theSepoys had a ditch to pass, and a very imperfect breach to mount, andthe fort might have held out for two days, before the English couldhave been in a position to storm it. The French army was in sight, andin ten minutes a general engagement would have begun. In spite of allthis, the coward at once hoisted a flag of truce, and surrendered. TheEuropeans and Sepoys ran in through the gate, and the former instantlyturned the guns of the fort upon the French army. This halted, struckwith amazement and anger, and Lally at once ordered it to retire uponthe town.
A week afterwards six ships, with six hundred fresh troops fromEngland, arrived.
The Mysoreans, who had brought food into Pondicherry, made manyexcursions in the country, but were sharply checked. They were unableto supply themselves with food, and none could be spared them from thestores in the magazines. Great distress set in among them, and thiswas heightened by the failure of a party, with two thousand bullockswith rice, to enter the town. This party, escorted by the greaterportion of the Mysorean horse from Pondicherry, was attacked anddefeated, and nine hundred bullocks, laden with baggage, captured.Shortly afterwards the rest of the Mysorean troops left Pondicherry,and marched to attack Trinomany.
Seeing that there was little fear of their returning to succourPondicherry, the English now determined to complete the blockade ofthat place. In order to have any chance of reducing it by famine, itwas necessary to obtain possession of the country within the hedge;which, with its redoubts, extended in the arc of a circle from theriver Ariangopang to the sea. The space thus included contained anarea of nearly seven square miles, affording pasture for the bullocks,of which there were sufficient to supply the troops and inhabitantsfor many months. Therefore, although the army was not yet strongenough to open trenches against the town, and indeed the siegeartillery had not yet sailed from Madras, it was determined to getpossession of the hedge and its redoubts.
Before doing this, however, it was necessary to capture the fort ofAriangopang. This was a difficult undertaking. The whole Europeanforce was but two thousand strong, and if eight hundred of these weredetached across the river to attack the fort, the main body would bescarcely a match for the enemy, should he march out against them. If,on the other hand, the whole army moved round to attack the fort, theenemy would be able to send out and fetch in the great convoy ofprovisions collected at Jinji.
Mr. Pigot therefore requested Admiral Stevens to land the marines ofthe fleet. Although, seeing that a large French fleet was expected,the admiral was unwilling to weaken his squadron; he complied with therequest, seeing the urgency of the case, and four hundred and twentymarines were landed.
On the 2nd of September two more men-of-war, the America and Medway,arrived, raising the fleet before Pondicherry to seventeen ships ofthe line. They convoyed several Company's ships, who had brought withthem the wing of a Highland regiment.
The same evening Coote ordered four hundred men to march to invest thefort of Ariangopang; but Colonel Monson, second in command, was sostrongly against the step that, at the last moment, he countermandedhis orders. The change was fortunate, for Lally, who had heard fromhis spies of the English intentions, moved his whole army out toattack the--as he supposed--weakened force.
At ten at night fourteen hundred French infantry, a hundred Frenchhorse, and nine hundred Sepoys marched out to attack the English, whohad no suspicion of their intent. Two hundred marines and five hundredSepoys proceeded, in two columns. Marching from the Valdore redoubt,one party turned to the right to
attack the Tamarind redoubt, whichthe English had erected on the Red Hill. Having taken this, they wereto turn to their left and join the other column. This skirted the footof the Red Hill, to attack the redoubt erected on a hillock at itsfoot, on the 18th July.
Four hundred Sepoys and a company of Portuguese were to take post atthe junction of the Valdore and Oulgarry avenues. The regiments ofLorraine and Lally were to attack the battery in this avenue,Lorraine's from the front, while Lally's, marching outwards in thefields, was to fall on its right flank. The Indian battalion, with theBourbon volunteers, three hundred strong, were to march from the fortof Ariangopang, across the river, to the villages under the fort ofVellenore; and, as soon as the fire became general, were to fall uponthe right rear of the English encampment.
At midnight a rocket gave the signal, and the attack immediatelycommenced. The attack on the Tamarind redoubt was repulsed, but theredoubt on the hillock was captured, and the guns spiked. At theintrenchment on the Oulgarry Road the fight was fierce, and ColonelCoote himself brought down his troops to its defence. The attack wascontinued, but as, owing to some mistake, the column intended to fallupon the English rear had halted, and did not arrive in time, theregiments of Lorraine and Lally drew off, and the whole force retiredto the town.
The ships arriving from England brought a commission appointing Monsonto the rank of Colonel, with a date prior to that of Colonel Coote;ordering him, however, not to assert his seniority, so long as Cooteremained at Madras. Coote, however, considered that it was intendedthat he should return to Bengal, and so handing over the command toMonson, he went back to Madras.
Colonel Monson at once prepared to attack the hedge, and its redoubts.Leaving sufficient guards for the camp, he advanced at midnight, withhis troops divided into two brigades, the one commanded by himself,the other by Major Smith. Major Smith's division was first to attackthe enemy, outside the hedge in the village of Oulgarry; and, drivingthem hence, to carry the Vellenore redoubt, while the main body wereto make a sweep round the Red Hill, and come down to the attack of theValdore redoubt.
Smith, moving to the right of the Oulgarry avenue, attacked thatposition on the left; and the advance, led by Captain Myers, carriedby storm a redoubt in front of the village, and seized four pieces ofcannon. Major Smith, heading his grenadiers, then charged the village,tore down all obstacles, and carried the place.
The day had begun to dawn when Colonel Monson approached the Valdoreredoubt. But at the last moment, making a mistake in their way, thehead of the column halted. At this moment the enemy perceived them,and discharged a twenty-four pounder, loaded with small shot, into thecolumn. Eleven men were killed and twenty-six wounded by this terribledischarge, among the latter Colonel Monson himself, his leg beingbroken. The grenadiers now rushed furiously to the attack, swarmedround the redoubt and, although several times repulsed, at last forcedtheir way through the embrasures and captured the position.
The defenders of the village of Oulgarry had halted outside theVellenore redoubt; but, upon hearing the firing to their right,retreated hastily within it. Major Smith pressed them hotly with hisbrigade, and followed so closely upon their heels that they did notstop to defend the position, but retreated to the town. Major Smithwas soon joined by the Highlanders, under Major Scott, who had forceda way through the hedge between the two captured redoubts.
Thus the whole line of the outer defence fell into the hands of theEnglish, with the exception of the Ariangopang redoubt on the left,which was held by the India regiment. Major Gordon, who now took thecommand, placed the Bombay detachment, of three hundred and fifty men,in the captured redoubts; and encamped the whole of the force in thefields to the right of Oulgarry.
Major Smith advised that at least a thousand men should be left, nearat hand, to succour the garrisons of the redoubts; which, being openat the rear, were liable to an attack. Major Gordon foolishly refusedto follow his advice, and the same night the French attacked theredoubts. The Bombay troops, however, defended themselves with extremebravery until assistance arrived.
Three days later the French evacuated and blew up the fort ofAriangopang, which the English were preparing to attack, and the Indiaregiment retired into the town, leaving, however, the usual guard inthe Ariangopang redoubt.
Colonel Coote had scarcely arrived at Madras when he received a letterfrom Colonel Monson, saying that he was likely to be incapacitated byhis wound for some months, and requesting that he would resume thecommand of the army. The authorities of Madras strongly urged Coote toreturn, representing the extreme importance of the struggle in whichthey were engaged. He consented, and reached camp on the night of the20th. He at once ordered the captured redoubts to be fortified, toprevent the enemy again taking the offensive; and erected a strongwork, called the North Redoubt, near the seashore and facing theMadras redoubt.
A few days later, on a party of Sepoys approaching the Ariangopangredoubt, the occupants of that place were seized with a panic,abandoned the place, and went into the town. The English had nowpossession of the whole of the outward defences of Pondicherry, withthe exception of the two redoubts by the seashore.
A day or two later Colonel Coote, advancing along the sea beach as ifwith a view of merely making a reconnaissance, pushed on suddenly,entered the village called the Blancherie, as it was principallyinhabited by washerwomen, and attacked the Madras redoubt. This wascarried, but the same night the garrison sallied out again, and fellupon the party of Sepoys posted there. Ensign MacMahon was killed, butthe Sepoys, although driven out from the redoubt, bravely returned andagain attacked the French; who, thinking that the Sepoys must havereceived large reinforcements, fell back into the village; from which,a day or two later, they retired into the town.
The whole of the ground outside the fort, between the riverAriangopang and the sea, was now in the hands of the English. TheFrench still maintained their communications with the south by thesandy line of coast. By this time the attacks, which the English fromTrichinopoli and Madura had made upon the Mysoreans, had compelled thelatter to make peace, and recall their army, which was still hoveringin the neighbourhood of Pondicherry.
Charlie, who had been suffering from a slight attack of fever, had forsome time been staying on board ship, for change. In the road ofPondicherry three of the French Indiamen, the Hermione, Baleine, andthe Compagnie des Indes, were at anchor, near the edge of the surf,under the cover of a hundred guns mounted on the sea face of the fort.These ships were awaiting the stormy weather, at the breaking of themonsoon, when it would be difficult for the English fleet to maintaintheir position off the town. They then intended to sail away to thesouth, fill up with provisions, and return to Pondicherry.
Admiral Stevens, in order to prevent this contingency, which wouldhave greatly delayed the reduction of the place, determined to cutthem out. Charlie's health being much restored by the sea breezes, heasked leave of the admiral to accompany the expedition, as avolunteer. On the evening of the 6th, six-and-twenty of the boats ofthe fleet, manned by four hundred sailors, were lowered and rowed tothe Tiger, which was at anchor within two miles of Pondicherry, therest of the fleet lying some distance farther away.
When, at midnight, the cabin lights of the Hermione were extinguished,the expedition started. The boats moved in two divisions, one of whichwas to attack the Hermione, the other the Baleine. The third vessellay nearer in shore, and was to be attacked if the others werecaptured.
The night was a very dark one, and the boats of each division moved inline, with ropes stretched from boat to boat, to ensure their keepingtogether in the right direction. Charlie was in one of the boatsintended to attack the Hermione. Tim accompanied him, but the admiralhad refused permission for Hossein to do so, as there were many morewhite volunteers for the service than the boats would accommodate.They were within fifty yards of the Hermione before they werediscovered, and a scattering musket fire was at once opened upon them.
The crews gave a mighty cheer and, casting off the ropes, separated;fiv
e making for each side of the ship, while two rowed forward to cutthe cables at her bows. The Compagnie des Indes opened fire upon theboats, but these were already alongside the ship, and the sailorsswarmed over the side at ten points.
The combat was a short one. The seventy men on board fought bravely,for a minute or two, but they were speedily driven below. The hatcheswere closed over them, and the cables being already cut, the mizzentopsail, the only sail bent, was hoisted; and the boats, takingtowropes, began to row her away from shore.
The instant, however, that the cessation of fire informed the garrisonthe ship was captured, a tremendous cannonade was opened by the gunsof the fortress. The lightning was flashing vividly, and this enabledthe gunners to direct their aim upon the ship. Over and over again shewas struck, and one shot destroyed the steering wheel, cut the tillerrope, and killed two men who were steering. The single sail was notsufficient to assist in steering her, and the men in the boats rowedwith such energy that the ropes continually snapped.
The fire continued from the shore, doing considerable damage; and themen in the boats, who could not see that the ship was moving throughthe water, concluded that she was anchored by a concealed cable andanchor. The officer in command, therefore, called up the Frenchmenfrom below, telling them he was about to fire the ship. They came ondeck and took their places in the boats, which rowed back to theTiger.
Upon arriving there Captain Dent, who commanded her, sternly rebukedthe officer; and said that, unless the boats returned instantly andbrought the Hermione out, he should send his own crew in their boatsto fetch her. The division thereupon returned, and met the ship half amile off shore, the land wind having now sprung up.
The Baleine had been easily captured and, having several sails bent,she was brought out without difficulty. No attempt was made to capturethe third vessel.
The rains had now set in, but the English laboured steadily at theirbatteries. The French were becoming pressed for provisions, and Lallyturned the whole of the natives remaining in the town, to the numberof fourteen hundred men and women, outside the fortifications. Ontheir arrival at the English lines they were refused permission topass, as Colonel Coote did not wish to relieve the garrison of theconsumption of food caused by them. They returned to the French lines,and begged to be again received; but they were, by Lally's orders,fired upon, and several killed.
For seven days the unhappy wretches remained without food, save theroots they could gather in the fields. Then Colonel Coote, seeing thatLally was inflexible, allowed them to pass.
On the 10th of November the batteries opened, and every day added tothe strength of the fire upon the town. The fortifications, however,were strong, and the siege progressed but slowly. On the 30th ofDecember a tremendous storm burst, and committed the greatest havoc,both at land and sea. The Newcastle, man-of-war; the Queenborough,frigate; and the Protector, fire ship were driven ashore and dashed topieces; but the crews, with the exception of seven, were saved. TheDuke of Aquitaine, the Sunderland, and the Duke, store ship, weresunk, and eleven hundred sailors drowned. Most of the other ships weredismasted.
Chapter 30: Home.
The fire of the batteries increased, and by the 13th of January theenemy's fire was completely silenced. The provisions in the town werewholly exhausted, and on the 16th the town surrendered, and the nextmorning the English took possession. Three days afterwards Lally wasembarked on board ship, to be taken a prisoner to Madras; and so muchwas he hated that the French officers and civilians assembled, andhissed and hooted him; and, had he not been protected by his guard,would have torn him to pieces. After his return to France he was triedfor having, by his conduct, caused the loss of the French possessionsin India, and being found guilty of the offence, was beheaded.
At Pondicherry two thousand and seventy-two military prisoners weretaken, and three hundred and eighty-one civilians. Five hundred cannonand a hundred mortars, fit for service; and immense quantities ofammunition, arms, and military stores fell into the hands of thecaptors.
Pondicherry was handed over to the Company; who, a short timeafterwards, entirely demolished both the fortress and town. This hardmeasure was the consequence of a letter which had been intercepted,from the French government to Lally, ordering him to raze Madras tothe ground, when it fell into his hands.
Charlie, after the siege, in which he had rendered great services,received from the Company, at Colonel Coote's earnest recommendation,his promotion to the step of lieutenant colonel; while Peters wasraised to that of major. A fortnight after the fall of Pondicherry,they returned to Madras, and thence took the first ship for England.It was now just ten years since they had sailed, and in that time theyhad seen Madras and Calcutta rise, from the rank of two tradingstations, in constant danger of destruction by their powerfulneighbours, to that of virtual capitals of great provinces. Not asyet, indeed, had they openly assumed the sovereignty of theseterritories; but Madras was, in fact, the absolute master of the broadtract of land extending from the foot of the mountains to the sea,from Cape Comorin to Bengal; while Calcutta was master of Bengal andOressa, and her power already threatened to extend itself as far asDelhi. The conquest of these vast tracts of country had been achievedby mere handfuls of men, and by a display of heroic valour andconstancy scarce to be rivalled in the history of the world.
The voyage was a pleasant one, and was, for the times, quick,occupying only five months. But to the young men, longing for homeafter so long an absence, it seemed tedious in the extreme.
Tim and Hossein were well content with their quiet, easy life, aftertheir long toils. They had nothing whatever to do, except that theyinsisted upon waiting upon Charlie and Peters, at meals. The shipcarried a large number of sick and wounded officers and men, and asthese gained health and strength, the life on board ship becamelivelier, and more jovial. Singing and cards occupied the evenings,while in the daytime they played quoits, rings of rope being used forthat purpose, and other games with which passengers usually wile awaythe monotony of long voyages.
It was late in June when the Madras sailed up the Thames; and, as soonas she came to anchor, the two officers and their followers landed.The din and bustle of the streets seemed almost as strange, toCharlie, as they had done when he came up a boy, from Yarmouth.Hossein was astonished at the multitude of white people, and inquiredof Charlie why, when there were so many men, England had sent so fewsoldiers to fight for her in India; and for once, Charlie was unableto give a satisfactory reply.
"It does seem strange," he said to Peters, "that when such mightyinterests were at stake, a body of even ten thousand troops could nothave been raised, and sent out. Such a force would have decided thestruggle at once; and in three months the great possessions, whichhave cost the Company twelve years' war, would have been at theirfeet. It would not have cost them more; indeed, nothing like as muchas it now has done, nor one tithe of the loss in life. Somehow,England always seems to make war in driblets."
Charlie knew that his mother and Kate had, for some years, beenresiding at a house which their uncle had taken, in the fashionablequarter of Chelsea. They looked in at the office, however, to see ifCharlie's uncle was there; but found that he was not in the city, and,indeed, had now almost retired from the business. They therefore tooka coach, placed the small articles of luggage which they had broughtwith them, from the ship, on the front seats; and then, Hossein andTim taking their places on the broad seat beside the driver, theyentered the coach and drove to Chelsea.
Charlie had invited Peters, who had no home of his own, to stay withhim, at least for a while. Both were now rich men, from their sharesof the prize money of the various forts and towns, in whose capturethey had taken part; although Charlie possessed some twenty thousandpounds more than his friend, this being the amount of the presents hehad received, from the Rajah of Ambur.
Alighting from the carriage, Charlie ran up to the door and knocked.Inquiring for Mrs. Marryat, he was shown into a room in which a lady,somewhat past middle age, and three
younger ones were sitting. Theylooked up, in surprise, as the young man entered. Ten years hadchanged him almost beyond recognition, but one of the younger ones atonce leaped to her feet, and exclaimed, "Charlie!"
His mother rose with a cry of joy, and threw herself into his arms.After rapturously kissing her, he turned to the others. Their faceswere changed, yet all seemed equally familiar to him, and in hisdelight he equally embraced them all.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed, when he freed himself from their arms. "Why,there are three of you! What on earth am I doing? I have somebody'spardon to beg; and yet, although your faces are changed, they seemequally familiar to me. Which is it?
"But I need not ask," he said, as a cloud of colour flowed over theface of one of the girls, while the others smiled mischievously.
"You are Katie," he said, "and you are Lizzie, certainly, and thisis--why, it is Ada!
"This is a surprise, indeed; but I sha'n't beg your pardon, Ada, for Ikissed you at parting, and quite intended to do so when I met again,at least if you had offered no violent objection.
"How you are all grown and changed, while you, Mother, look scarcelyolder than when I left you.
"But there, I have quite forgotten Peters. He has come home with me,and will stay till he has formed his own plans."
He hurried out and brought in Peters; who, not wishing to be presentat the family meeting, had been paying the coachman, and seeing to thethings being brought into the house. He was warmly received, by theladies, as the friend and companion of Charlie in his adventures;scarcely a letter having been received, from the latter, withoutmention having been made of his comrade.
In a minute or two Mr. Tufton, who had been in the large garden behindthe house, hurried in. He was now quite an old man; and under theinfluence of age, and the cheerful society of Mrs. Marryat and herdaughters, he had lost much of the pomposity which had beforedistinguished him.
"Ah! Nephew," he said, when the happy party had sat down to dinner,their number increased by the arrival of Mrs. Haines, who had a houseclose by; "wilful lads will go their own way. I wanted to make a richmerchant of you, and you have made of yourself a famous soldier. Butyou've not done badly for yourself after all; for you have, in yourletters, often talked about prize money."
"Yes, Uncle. I have earned, in my way, close upon a hundred thousandpounds; and I certainly shouldn't have made that if I had stuck to theoffice at Madras, even with the aid of the capital you offered to lendme, to trade with on my own account."
There was a general exclamation of surprise and pleasure, at themention of the sum; although this amount was small, in comparison tothat which many acquired, in those days, in India.
"And you're not thinking of going back again, Charlie?" his mothersaid, anxiously. "There can be no longer any reason for your exposingyourself to that horrible climate, and that constant fighting."
"The climate is not so bad, Mother, and the danger and excitement of asoldier's life there, at present, render it very fascinating. But Ihave done with it. Peters and I intend, on the expiration of ourleave, to resign our commissions in the Company's service, and tosettle down under our own vines and fig trees. Tim has already electedhimself to the post of my butler, and Hossein intends to be my valetand body servant."
Immediately after their arrival, Charlie had brought in his faithfulfollowers and introduced them to the ladies; who, having often heardof their devotion and faithful services, had received them with akindness and cordiality which had delighted them.
Lizzie, whose appearance at home had been unexpected by Charlie, forher husband was a landed gentleman at Seven Oaks, in Kent, was, itappeared, paying a visit of a week to her mother; and her threechildren, two boys and a little girl, were duly brought down to beshown to, and admired by, their Uncle Charles.
"And how is it you haven't married, Katie? With such a pretty face asyours, it is scandalous that the men have allowed you to reach themature age of twenty-two, unmarried."
"It is the fault of the hussy herself," Mr. Tufton said. "It is notfrom want of offers, for she has had a dozen, and among them some ofthe nobility at court; for it is well known that John Tufton's niecewill have a dowry such as many of the nobles could not give, to theirdaughters."
"This is too bad, Kate," Charlie said, laughing. "What excuse have youto make for yourself for remaining single, with all these advantagesof face and fortune?"
"Simply that I didn't like any of them," Katie said. "The beaux of thepresent day are contemptible. I would as soon think of marrying a waxdoll. When I do marry; that is, if ever I do, it shall be a man, andnot a mere tailor's dummy."
"You are pert, miss," her uncle said.
"Do what I will, Charlie, I cannot teach the hussy to order hertongue."
"Katie's quite right, Uncle," Charlie laughed. "And I must make it myduty to find a man who will suit her taste; though, according to youraccount of her, he will find it a hard task to keep such a Xanthippein order."
Katie tossed her head.
"He'd better not try," she said saucily, "or it will be worse forhim."
Two days later, Charlie's elder sister returned with her family to herhouse at Sevenoaks; where Charlie promised, before long, to pay her avisit. After she had gone, Charlie and Peters, with Katie, made aseries of excursions to all the points of interest, round London; andon these occasions Ada usually accompanied them.
The natural consequences followed. Charlie had, for years, been thehero of Ada's thoughts; while Katie had heard so frequently of Petersthat she was, from the first, disposed to regard him in the mostfavourable light. Before the end of two months, both couples wereengaged; and as both the young officers possessed ample means, and theladies were heiresses, there was no obstacle to an early union.
The weddings took place a month later; and Tim was, in the exuberanceof his delight, hilariously drunk for the first and only time duringhis service with Charlie. Both gentlemen bought estates in thecountry, and later took their seats in Parliament, where theyvigorously defended their former commander, Lord Clive, in theassaults which were made upon him.
Tim married, seven or eight years after his master, and settled downin a nice little house upon the estate. Although, henceforth, he didno work whatever; he insisted, to the end of his life, that he wasstill in Colonel Marryat's service.
Hossein, to the great amusement of his master and mistress, followedTim's example. The pretty cook of Charlie's establishment made noobjection to his swarthy hue. Charlie built a snug cottage for them,close to the house, where they took up their residence; but Hossein,though the happy father of a large family, continued, to the end of along life, to discharge the duties of valet to his master.
Both he and Tim were immense favourites with the children of Charlieand Peters, who were never tired of listening to their tales of theexploits of their fathers, when with Clive in India.
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