my guns
This determined me to abandon the boats, and to retreat to
Dinajpur, where I hoped to find an asylum with the Raja
whilst I waited for a reply to my letters to Jafar All Khan
and the English. We marched till 1 o'clock in the afternoon
without being harassed or disquieted--no doubt because
during this time Sheikh Faiz Ulla and his people were
occupied in plundering the boats. We were now not very
far from Dinajpur, when we met a body of the Raja's cavalry,
the commander of which begged me to take another road so
as not to pass through his town. Accordingly he gave me
a guide, with whom we marched till half-past five, when we
arrived at a great _gunge_ (market place) at the extremity of
Dinajpur. There they lodged us in a great thatched building.
The want of provisions had caused us to suffer very much in
this retreat."

This was the battle of Cantanagar. Kasim Ali described it as follows
to Clive:--

"My people and the French had a battle, and the latter
finding themselves much, beat, they run away, and left their
boats. They went to Oppoor" "and begged protection of
the Kajah's people.... Bahadur Sing came and told my
people to go a little further off, and they would deliver
them up, but they put us off from day to day."[154]

About the time he was writing this, Clive was writing to say that he
had received Courtin's offer of surrender, and that Kasim Ali was to
cease hostilities and allow the French to come to him with their
boats and necessaries. Kasim Ali had received orders to the same
effect from Mr. Scrafton, who informed him he was sending an officer
to accept their surrender. This did not however prevent Kasim Ali
from trying to get hold of them, which accounts for the following
letter from Raja Ram Nath to Clive:[155]--

"The French are now coming from another country by
boats to go towards Muxadavad, and Kasim Ali Khan's
people have followed them, out of his own country into
mine. They have left their boats among Kasim Ali Khan's
people and are now travelling to Jangepors" (? Tangepur).

"When I heard this I sent people with all expedition to look
after them, and I now hear that they have surrounded them.
The French want the Nawab's and your orders and _call for justice_[156]
from you. They have hoisted the Nawab's[157] and
your colours, have put on your cloaths (?) and want to go
to Muxadavad. Kasim Ali Khan's people want to car