leader alone on his tub, still imploring them to come back and take the arsenal. Eventually, he too gave up, shoulders slumping as he climbed down from the upended tub and beat a retreat back to the barracks. Arthur watched him go, and saw that the others were gathering up their comrades, the women and the children and disappearing into the barrack blocks. Soon there was little sign of life around the camp and wisps of steam and smoke from the fires lifted lazily into the morning air. Arthur felt the tension of the last few moments drain from his body to be replaced by a blessed sense of relief that the crisis had passed and he had won the day, without any bloodshed. He idly hoped that all his victories could be as bloodless as this, then cursed himself for being such a naive fool.
The plan had been good, and carried out to the letter. All that remained was to carry out the terms of the treaty the Nizam had signed.
The column that had entered by the main gate was led by Colonel Malcolm, who doffed his hat to Arthur as he approached the arsenal and called out, ‘Good day to you, sir!’
Arthur nodded. ‘And to you.’
‘Bloody fine piece of work.’ Malcolm laughed as he surveyed the abandoned muskets carpeting the ground in front of the arsenal. ‘We’ve done it! Just wait till word of this gets back to Calcutta! Fine work, sir! Fine work.’
Arthur stretched his back and smiled to himself. He could already imagine Richard’s delight at hearing that the plan had gone so smoothly. The French officers would be ousted, the Nizam would be in the debt of England and, best of all, not one life had been lost in achieving this result. For that, Arthur felt his heart swell with pride as he gazed out across the camp and let the warm rays of the rising sun wash over his face.
Chapter 36
‘Egypt?’ Arthur’s eyebrows rose in astonishment. ‘When did they invade?’
‘At the start of July,’ Henry replied. ‘A large army, well over twenty thousand men according to our agents’ reports. The commander is one of their rising stars, a General Bonaparte.’
‘Bonaparte,’ Arthur mused wryly. Once again the young French general was making his mark. ‘What do we know of his intentions?’
Henry smiled.‘Not a great deal. It seems the French are set on turning Egypt into a province.This man Bonaparte is busy setting up a new government in Egypt, levying taxes, building roads and so on. It’s not difficult to see what the longer term goal might be. With Egypt in their pocket the French will have a base from which to seize the whole of the Levant. Of course, our fear is that such a move would ultimately constitute a threat to us here in India. They will be in a far better position to send men and supplies to the aid of our enemies, like Tipoo.’
Richard leaned forward and stabbed his finger down on the desk. ‘What I want to know is what our bloody Navy was doing while Bonaparte and his army were swanning around the Mediterranean. That glory-chaser, Nelson, was supposed to intercept and destroy any French fleets that left port. Instead, he’s somehow managed to let the entire enemy battle fleet slip past him. The bloody man must be blind.’
‘Well, now that you mention it . . .’ Henry muttered.
‘In any case, it doesn’t matter,’ Richard interrupted. ‘We can’t do anything about it now.The thing is, we have to be aware that this news will encourage Tipoo. I think that the time is fast approaching when he will move against us, unless we act first. I’m just glad that we have settled the situation in Hyderabad. At least we can count on the Nizam’s support for a while yet.And there’ll be no more Frenchmen drip-feeding their revolutionary bile into his ear.’
‘What happened to the French officers?’ asked Henry. ‘How many did you take prisoner?’
‘Over a hundred of them,’Arthur replied.‘I had them escorted to Bombay and put aboard an Indiaman.They’re on their way to England where I imagine they’ll spend the rest of the war on a prison hulk.’
Richard sniffed. ‘Good riddance to ’em. At least that’s put an end to the French influence in Hyderabad.’
‘For now at least,’ Arthur agreed. ‘But they’ll find other ways to try to exert their influence in India. Mark my words.’
‘I don’t have to. It’s already happening.’ Richard leaned over his desk and tapped a pile of intelligence reports. ‘Tipoo and his army are daily becoming the proxies of the revolutionaries back in Paris. At the moment the French offer encouragement and promises, but it won’t be too long before they back that up with guns, gold and men. Tipoo can hardly wait to have a crack at us. The problem is that we’re not yet ready to fight him. The situation in Madras is a mess. The new Governor General, Lord Clive - the son,’ he added, in response to a raised eyebrow from Arthur, ‘is still learning the ropes and depends too much on his advisers, especially his chief of staff, Josiah Webbe. Webbe has sent me a memorandum demanding that we do nothing to provoke conflict with Tipoo, or indeed any of the other powers in India. According to my sources Webbe plays continually on Clive’s desire to keep the books balanced. He’s fighting every step to prepare the Madras presidency for war on the pretext that the Company cannot afford to fight Tipoo.’
‘How can we afford not to fight him?’ asked Arthur with exasperation.‘If we don’t take the fight to Tipoo then you can be sure that he will take the fight to Madras. And that would be just the start. None of England’s possessions in India would be safe.’
‘Quite.’ Richard nodded. ‘If Tipoo can capture Madras then the natives will have no faith in our
‘What are we to do, then?’ asked Henry. ‘We’re not ready for war, but it seems that we are compelled to fight one.’
‘Indeed,’ Richard mused. He rose from his chair and paced over to the large map of India that adorned one of the walls. He studied the area between Madras and Seringapatam for a moment before he continued. ‘The main difficulty facing us will be one of distance. It defeated Cornwallis last time round. We must ensure that the same fate does not befall us.’ He turned round to face his brothers, then fixed his gaze on Arthur. ‘You’ve been thinking about this matter, I understand.’
‘Yes. I’ve had some ideas about what we can do to give us a decent chance of defeating Tipoo once and for all.’
‘Go on.’
Arthur quickly set his thoughts in order. ‘Tipoo knows that his men stand little chance of defeating a large army of King’s regiments and Company battalions. His cavalry, while numerous, is no match for ours, and his infantry lack training and experience compared to our men. He has a distinct advantage in artillery, but many of his guns are too large for mobile warfare and will have to be left at Seringapatam.
‘It’s my belief that Tipoo will follow the same strategy as last time. He will fight a series of delaying actions, destroying as much food and forage as he can in the path of our men, before he falls back on Seringapatam and holds out there until our supplies are finished, or the monsoon season comes. The rains will make the rivers around Seringapatam unfordable, and afterwards the pestilence will cause our men to drop like flies.’
Henry nodded. ‘And how do you intend to counter his strategy, Arthur?’
‘It won’t be easy,’ Arthur admitted readily enough. ‘But the key to it is to find a new way of supplying our army once the campaign begins.’
‘How do you propose to do that?’
‘The main thing is to make our forces as mobile as possible. What limits the size and depth of our offensive ability at present is the need to build roads wherever we go so that we can bring up our wheeled transport - the supply wagons and artillery. The solution is obvious enough. We don’t bother with lines of communication. And, as far as possible, we don’t bother with roads, or even wheels for that matter.’
Richard looked confused. ‘So, what are you suggesting? That we dispense with feeding our men, and not use artillery to support them?’
Arthur smiled. ‘It’s simple.We’ll use bullocks and elephants to carry and haul our heavy equipment. They can go almost anywhere a man can go, and they can live off the land as they march.They move at about the same speed as draft horses so they will not slow the army down. Of course, we will need thousands of them, and that’s where the second part of the solution comes in. We’ll use the
‘
‘They’re grain merchants. They buy and sell grain the length and breadth of India and breed vast herds of
