tarted by land; a hundred and fifty artillery
proceeding in boats, escorted by three ships of war and several
smaller vessels, under Admiral Watson.

The French garrison consisted only of a hundred and forty-six French,
and three hundred Sepoys. Besides these were three hundred of the
European population, and sailors of the merchant ships in port, who
had been hastily formed into a militia.

The governor, indignant at the duplicity with which he had been
treated, had worked vigorously at his defences. The settlement
extended along the river banks for two miles. In the centre stood the
fort, which was a hundred and twenty yards square, mounting ten
thirty-two pounder guns on each of its four bastions. Twenty
four-pounder guns were placed on the ramparts, facing the river on the
south. On an outlying work commanding the watergate eight thirty-two
pounders were mounted. Monsieur Renault set to work to demolish all
the houses within a hundred yards of the fort, and to erect batteries
commanding the approaches. He ordered an officer to sink several ships
in the only navigable channel, about a hundred and fifty yards to the
south of the fort, at a point commanded by the guns of one of the
batteries.

The officer was a traitor. He purposely sank the ships in such a
position as to leave a channel, through which the English ships might
pass; and then, seizing his opportunity, deserted to them.

On approaching the town Clive, knowing that Charlie could speak the
native language fluently, asked him whether he would undertake to
reconnoitre the position of the enemy, with which he was entirely
unacquainted. Charlie willingly agreed. When, on the night of the 13th
of March, the army halted a few miles from the town, Charlie,
disguising himself in a native dress and accompanied by Hossein, left
the camp and made his way to the town. This he had no difficulty in
entering. It extended a mile and a half back from the river, and
consisted of houses standing in large gardens and inclosures. The
whole of the Europeans were labouring at the erection of the
batteries, and the destruction of the houses surrounding them; and
Charlie and his companion, approaching closely to one of these, were
pounced upon by the French officer in command of a working party, and
set to work, with a number of natives, in demolishing the houses.

Charlie, with his usual energy, threw himself into the work, and would
speedily have called attention to himself