"

We learn from the correspondence between
Mr. Scrafton and Clive, that Drake, the cowardly
Governor of Calcutta, very naturally could not
understand what was meant by this claim to the
honours of war.[163]

"My guns were conducted by land by a small detachment, the command
of which I gave to M. Chevalier, and we embarked on some small
boats belonging to the Raja, in which we had hardly room to move.

"I was not yet at the end of my troubles, for on the 3rd of March,
after dinner, as I was getting back into my boat, one of the
boatmen, wishing to put down a gun, managed to let it off, and sent
a bullet through my left shoulder. It passed through the clavicle
between the sinew and the bone. Luckily the blow was broken by a
button which the bullet first struck; still it passed almost
completely through the shoulder and lodged under the skin, which had
to be opened behind the shoulder to extract it and also the wad.
However unfortunate this wound was, I ought to be very thankful to
God that it was so safely directed, and for the further good fortune
of finding with one of my people sufficient ointment for the
surgeon, who was quite destitute of all necessaries, to dress
my shoulder until the ninth day after, when we arrived at
Murshidabad.[164] This wound caused me much suffering for the first
few days, but, thanks to the Lord, in thirty-two or thirty-three
days it was quite healed and without any bad effects.

"We rested ourselves from our fatigue till the 20th at my friend's
house, when, with his concurrence and in response to their offers, I
went to the Dutch gentlemen at Cossimbazar, where M. Vernet, their
chief and an old friend of mine, received us with the greatest
kindness. It is from their Settlement that I write to thee, my dear
wife. Until the ships sail for England I shall continue to write
daily, and tell thee everything that is of interest.[165]

"August 10, 1758.

"My dear wife, I resume my narrative to tell thee that my boats have
been restored by the English, as well as all the goods that had not
been plundered by Sheikh Faiz Ulla and his people, except the
munitions of war. Still, so much of the merchandise, goods and
silver, has disappeared that I am ruined for ever, unless the
English, who have promised to cause everything to be restored, are
able to make the Moors give them up. The English have at length
decided on our fate in a way altogether honourable to us. We are not