troops; and
these, proud of their victory over such formidable opponents, were
full of enthusiasm for their young English leader. The rejoicings in
Ambur that night were great, and all felt confident that the danger
was at an end.

"What think you," the rajah said to Charlie, as, the long feast at an
end, they sat together in the divan, smoking their narghileys, "will
be the result, when the news of the defeat of Murari Reo reaches
Hyderabad?"

"It is difficult to say," Charlie replied. "It is possible, of course,
that it may be considered that it is better to leave you in peace;
but, upon the other hand, it may be that they will consider that you
are so formidable a power, that it is absolutely necessary to crush
you at once, rather than to give you the chance of joining against
them, in the war which must sooner or later take place between them
and the English. In that case, it will be a very different affair from
that which we have had today.

"Still, I should send off a messenger tomorrow, to acquaint the nizam
with the defeat you inflicted upon the Mahrattas who have invaded you,
to assure him again of your loyalty, and to beg him to lay his
authority upon Murari Reo, not to renew the attack."

Ten days later a messenger arrived from the nizam, ordering the rajah
to repair, at once, to Hyderabad, to explain his conduct. The latter
sent back a message of humble excuses, saying that his health was so
injured, by the excitement of recent events, that he was unable to
travel; but that, when he recovered, he would journey to Hyderabad to
lay his respects at the feet of the nizam.

Two or three days later a messenger arrived from Mr. Saunders, with a
letter to Charlie. In this he expressed his great satisfaction at the
defeat Murari Reo had received; a defeat which would, for some time,
keep him quiet, and so relieve the strain upon the English. Affairs
had, he said, since the departure of Clive for England, been going
badly. Dupleix had received large reinforcements, and the English had
suffered several reverses. Mr. Saunders begged him to assure the rajah
of the respect and friendship of England, and to give him the promise
that, if he should be driven from his capital, he would be received
with all honor at Madras, and should be reinstated in his dominions,
with much added territory, when the English were again in a position
to take the field in force, and to settle their long feud with the
French.

Ten days