eanwhile, had been
{59}seized by the enemy; then, having placed in Arcot a sufficient
garrison, returned to Madras, thence to Fort St. David, having
carried out to the letter the programme he had submitted at the
latter place to Governor Saunders.

Well had he done it. The army of Chanda Sahib, doubled up by the
terrible blow struck in the very centre of his possessions, still
indeed held the position before Trichinopoli, but, from an enemy
confident, boastful, certain of ultimate success, he had become an
enemy timid, irresolute, doubtful of the issue, shrinking from his
own shadow. The prestige gained by the young Englishman paralyzed his
vitality. It required apparently but one more blow to complete his
demoralization. The one condition of that blow was that it must be
struck quickly, suddenly, before the enemy should have time to
recover. Considerations such as these, we may be sure, formed the
staple of the conversations at Fort St. David between the young
captain and the Governor after the return of the former from Arcot.

{60}

CHAPTER VII
'THE SWELL AND DASH OF A MIGHTY WAVE'[1]

[Footnote 1: 'The battle of Napoleon was the swell and dash of a
mighty wave before which the barrier yielded, and the roaring flood
poured onwards, covering all things.' Sir W. Napier's _Peninsular
War_.]

But there was one distinguished actor in the events I have recorded
who was by no means inclined to sit passively under the severe blow
which had but just upset all his calculations. This man was Dupleix,
the Governor of Pondicherry. The plan of taking Trichinopoli had been
his plan. To take that place he had used all the resources open to
him: he had, in fact, for that purpose pawned the resources of
Pondicherry. But one thing he had not done. He had not removed from
the court of the Subahdar the one competent general, Bussy-Castelnau,
generally known as Bussy, to carry out his ideas. He had bent all his
hopes on Law of Lauriston, nephew of the famous Scotch financier, and
who commanded the French troops before Trichinopoli. He leant,
however, on a reed, on which, when a man leaneth, it pierces
his hand. As a soldier under command Law was excellent. As a
Commander-in-chief he was pitiable, dreading responsibility,
timid, nervous, wanting in {61}every quality of a general. At the
moment Dupleix did not know this. He had seen Law fight well and
gallantly at the siege of Pondicherry: he had known him full of
self-confide