himself to be cajoled. He was detained by promises before Tanjore until Nádir Jang had entered the Karnátik. Then, thoroughly aroused, he would have attempted to storm the town; but his troops, alarmed by the near approach of Nádir Jang, not only refused to follow him, but broke up without orders, and fell back on Pondichery.
This was a blow which for the moment shattered the plans of Dupleix. The position, indeed, was now inverted. For, whereas, but a few weeks before, his ally had possessed all the Karnátik except Trichinopoli, the whole of that province had now fallen into the hands of Nádir Jang, who, with an enormous army, estimated at 300,000 men, had arrived at Valdávur, just nine miles from Pondichery. The English, too, had now recognised Muhammad Alí as the true Nuwáb, and that prince was likewise present. A few days later, April 2, Major Lawrence, with 600 Englishmen under his command, joined Nádir Jang.
The occasion was one to test to the very core the stuff that was in a man. The weapons of Dupleix had broken in his hand, not from any fault or want of skill on his part, but because the weapons themselves were defective. It is not the fault of the swordsman if his sword-blade suddenly snaps; nor of the infantry soldier if his bayonet bends in the thrust. Chandá Sáhib had snapped like the sword-blade, and, at the moment, all the French superior military officers were bending bayonets. Duquesne had died before Tanjore.
