their own country the Tanjore troops, and he was supported only by the rabble of Muhammad Alí. It was under these circumstances that Mainville marched. He reached the island in safety, and remained there so quiet that Lawrence, busy with his sick troops, conceived no suspicion as to his intentions. All this time Mainville was making preparations, preparing scaling ladders, training his men, and storing up information about the fortress. At length, on December 8, he was ready. He had acted with so much caution that neither the English nor their native allies entertained the slightest suspicions as to his intentions. His plan was as follows: To attempt with 600 Frenchmen, supported by 200 more and the sipáhis, the part of the rock-fortress known as Dalton's Battery, guarded, it had been ascertained, by only fifty sipáhis; after mastering this, without firing a shot, to dash round the two traverses, guided by a deserter, and apply a petard to the gate of the town: should that fail, to attempt to escalade, the walls at that point being but eighteen feet above the rock.
At three o'clock in the morning of December 9 (new style), Mainville crossed the Káverí to carry out his plan; reached, unperceived, the base of the rock; and stormed Dalton's Battery without losing a man. Had his men only obeyed orders and abstained from firing, they would certainly have captured the place, for the English were fast asleep. But the evil genius of the French soldiers prompted them to turn against
