being thrown amongst a crowded mass of the enemy, exploded, and the fortune of the day was turned. The besiegers gave way; and as party after party retired from the ramparts, their discomfiture was increased by hurling down on them vast pieces of rock. The conflict lasted two hours, and the number of the enemy's dead left on the ramparts, and within the ditch, exceeded the entire strength of the garrison by whom they had been so bravely repulsed.
To abandon such gallant men in the midst of their struggles would indeed be a shame; and though a due regard to the safety of Palagant prevented Major Cuppage from doing much for their relief, he afforded some assistance; and with the aid of some revenue troops under the direction of Mr. Macleod, a gallant and enterprising civil servant, the enemy were driven from the pettah, which they had continued to occupy, and chased to the Bawany river, a distance of about twenty miles, with the loss of a large quantity of their stores. To add to the permanent strength of the garrison, a company of Sepoys, commanded by Lieutenant Nash, was ordered in, and by some further additions it was increased to about seven hundred men.
Scarcely had Lieutenant Chalmers time to repair the breaches in the works, and make other dispositions for defence, before the enemy re-appeared. The force now arrayed against Coimbatore consisted of eight thousand regular infantry, with fourteen guns, four mortars, and a large body of irregulars and horse. It was commanded by Kummer-oo-Deen. The enemy took possession of the pettah without opposition, erected batteries, and opened approaches, under the cover of a heavy fire, which the besieged were able to return very inadequately. But the spirits of the garrison were cheered by intelligence that Major Cuppage was advancing with three battalions of Company's Sepoys, two of Travancoreans, and six field-pieces, to compel the enemy to raise the siege.
To divert this force from its object, and probably at
