blishment left there; but time will show.

"Having defeated Maphuz Khan, Dupleix resolved to make a great effort
to expel us from Fort Saint David, our sole footing left in Southern
India; and he despatched an army of nine hundred Frenchmen, six
hundred Sepoys, and a hundred Africans, with six guns and mortars,
against us. They were four to one against us, and we had hot work, I
can tell you. Four times they tried to storm the place, and each time
we drove them back; till at last they gave it up in disgust, at the
end of June, having besieged us for six months.

"Soon after this Admiral Boscawen, with a great fleet and an army,
arrived from England; and on 19th of August besieged Pondicherry. The
besieging army was six thousand strong; of whom three thousand, seven
hundred and twenty were English. But Pondicherry resisted bravely, and
after two months the besiegers were forced to retire, having lost, in
attacks or by fever, one thousand and sixty-five men.

"At the end of the siege, in which I had served as a medical officer,
I returned to England. A few months after I left, peace was made
between England and France, and by its terms Dupleix had to restore
Madras to the English. I hear that fighting has been going on ever
since, the English and French engaging as auxiliaries to rival native
princes; and especially that there was some hot fighting round
Devikota. However, we shall hear about that when we get there."

"And what do you think will be the result of it all, Doctor Rae?"

"I think that undoubtedly, sooner or later, either the French or
ourselves will be driven out. Which it will be remains to be seen. If
we are expelled, the effect of our defeat is likely to operate
disastrously at Calcutta, if not at Bombay. The French will be
regarded as a powerful people, whom it is necessary to conciliate,
while we shall be treated as a nation of whom they need have no fear,
and whom they can oppress accordingly.

"If we are successful, and absolutely obtain possession of the
Carnatic, our trade will vastly increase, fresh posts and commands of
all sorts will be established, and there will be a fine career open to
you young fellows, in the service of the Company."

After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the ship encountered a series of
very heavy gales, which drove her far out of her course up the eastern
coast of Africa. In the last gale her foremast was carried away, and
she put in to a small island to refit. She h