ddle of February that he had completed his
arrangements. On the 9th, the hundred men arrived from Bengal, and,
without the loss of a day, Clive started from Madras to form a
junction with the garrison from Arcot, who, leaving only a small force
to hold the fort, had moved down to meet him.

Chapter 9: The Battle Of Kavaripak.

The troops from Arcot had already moved some distance on their way to
Madras, and Clive, therefore, with the new levies, joined them on the
day after his leaving Madras. The French and Riza Sahib let slip the
opportunity of attacking these bodies, before they united. They were
well aware of their movements, and had resolved upon tactics,
calculated in the first place to puzzle the English commander, to wear
out his troops, and to enable them finally to surprise and take him
entirely at a disadvantage.

The junction with the Arcot garrison raised the force under Clive's
orders to three hundred and eighty English, thirteen hundred Sepoys,
and six field guns, while the enemy at Vendalur, a place twenty-five
miles south of Madras, where they had a fortified camp, had four
hundred French troops, two thousand Sepoys, two thousand five hundred
cavalry, and twelve guns.

Hoping to surprise them there, Clive marched all night. When the force
approached the town they heard that the enemy had disappeared, and
that they had started, apparently, in several directions.

The force was halted for a few hours, and then the news was obtained
that the enemy had united their forces at Conjeveram, and that they
had marched away from that place in a westerly direction. Doubting not
that they were about to attack Arcot, which, weakened by the departure
of the greater portion of its garrison, would be in no position to
defend itself against a sudden coup de main by a strong force, Clive
set his troops again in motion. The French, indeed, had already bribed
some of the native soldiers within the fort; who were to reply to a
signal made without, if they were in a position to open the gates.
However, by good fortune their treachery had been discovered, and when
the French arrived they received no reply to their signal; and as
Arcot would be sure to fall if they defeated Clive, they marched away
without attacking it, to take up the position which they had agreed
upon beforehand.

It was at nine in the evening that Clive, at Vendalur, obtained
intelligence that the enemy had assembled at Conjeveram. The troops
h