ower to grant."[104]

Law does not say much about the hardships of his flight; but Eyre
Coote, who commanded the detachment which followed him, had the
utmost difficulty in persuading his men to advance, and wrote to
Clive that he had never known soldiers exposed to greater hardships.
At Patna Eyre Coote seized the French Factory, where the Chief, M.
de la Bretesche, was lying ill. The military and other Company's
servants had gone on with Law, leaving in charge a person variously
called M. Innocent and Innocent Jesus. He was not a Frenchman, but
nevertheless he was sent down to Calcutta. From Patna Eyre Coote got
as far as Chupra, only to find Law safe beyond the frontier at
Ghazipur, and nothing left for him to do but to return.

From now on to January, 1761, Law was out of the reach of the
English, living precariously on supplies sent from Bussy in the
south, from his wife at Chinsurah, and from a secret store which M.
de la Bretesche had established at Patna unknown to the English, and
upon loans raised from wealthy natives, such as the Raja of
Bettiah. He believed all along that the French would soon make an
effort to invade Bengal, where there was a large native party in
their favour, and where he could assist them by creating a diversion
in the north. I shall touch on his adventures very briefly.

His first halt was at Benares, which he reached on the 2nd of
August, and where the Raja Bulwant Singh tried to wheedle and
frighten him into surrendering his guns. He escaped out of his hands
by sheer bluff, and went on to Chunargarh, where he received letters
from Suja-ud-daula, Nawab of Oudh, a friend of Siraj-ud-daula's,
whom he hoped to persuade into invading Bengal. On the 3rd of
September he reached Allahabad, and here left his troop under the
command of M. le Comte de Carryon, whilst he went on to Lucknow, the
capital of Oudh.

It is only at this moment that Law bethinks him of describing his
troop. It consisted of 175 Europeans and 100 sepoys drilled in
European fashion. The officers were D'Hurvilliers, le Comte de
Carryon (who had brought a detachment from Dacca before Law left
Cossimbazar), Ensign Brayer (who had commanded the military at
Patna), Ensign Jobard (who had escaped from Chandernagore), and
Ensign Martin de la Case. He also entertained as officers MM.
Debelleme (Captain of a French East Indiaman), Boissemont, and La
Ville Martere, Company's servants (these three had all escaped from
Chanderna