The Generals

water gate.’

‘We have to find him, sir. If he escapes then he’ll continue the war from somewhere else. If he’s been killed we must find the body.’

‘I’m no fool, Wellesley. I know damn well what’s at stake.’

‘I apologise, sir. I meant no offence.’

‘Never mind. Anyway, here’s the fellow now.’

Arthur looked up and saw a thin man emerge from the shadows behind the main entrance, walking swiftly down the steps towards them. He bowed his head formally as he stood in front of Baird and spoke, in good English. ‘The killadar accepts your conditions, and your word as a pukka sahib that no harm will come of the household if we lay down our arms.’

‘Those were the terms offered, and I stand by them, with these officers as witnesses.’

‘There is one other thing,’ Arthur interrupted. ‘You must take us to the body of Tipoo, or at least to the last place he was seen.’

‘As you wish, sahib.’

‘Very well,’ Baird growled at the palace official. ‘Those are the final terms. Take ’em or leave ’em.’

‘We accept, sahib. I will tell my master.’

‘I want everyone in the palace brought out here,’ Baird ordered.‘They are to leave their weapons - all of them, mind you - stacked in the hall over there.’

‘Yes, sahib.’ The native bowed and trotted back towards the palace.

Baird turned to Arthur. ‘Bring your men in. They can guard the prisoners and take up position in and around the palace.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Shortly afterwards, as the redcoats stood waiting, the first of the enemy came out of the palace and cautiously made their way across the courtyard towards the men of the 33rd, to be herded together in one corner of the courtyard. A steady stream of warriors emerged, and then the Tipoo’s sons and scores of his wives. When the killadar appeared Arthur approached him to ask if any of his men had been taken prisoner during the night attack on the tope early on in the siege. The killadar had been held hostage by the company, in the days of Cornwallis, and spoke some broken English.

‘We show you,’ he replied nervously. ‘Prisoners? Please come.’

‘Show us?’ Arthur muttered. ‘Show us what?’

‘You must see. Come!’The killadar started towards the door to a smaller courtyard to one side of the palace. ‘This way!’

‘What’s over there, I wonder?’ Fitzroy asked suspiciously.

‘The dungeons,’ Baird replied quietly. ‘Where they held me for over three years.’

Baird summoned several men to accompany them. The party followed the killadar cautiously and once through the door they found that they were in what looked to be some kind of training ground. To one side a flight of steps descended to two rows of barred cells. At the far end was a pit. Fitzroy leaned closer to Arthur. ‘What do you think he means to show us?’

‘How should I know? Anyway, we’ll find out soon enough.’

The killadar led them across the courtyard and down the steps. As they made their way between the cells Arthur saw that the gates were open and the cells were empty. Except for the last one. As they approached four enormous figures emerged from it and bowed to the allied officers

‘Who the hell are they?’ Arthur said in a strained tone. The men were all superbly muscled and looked as if they could break a man’s neck with their bare hands.

‘Jettis,’ Baird explained quietly. ‘Strong men. They performed tricks and feats of strength for Tipoo and his father.’

‘What kind of tricks?’ Fitzroy asked with a trace of anxiety.

‘I’ve seen them twist a man’s head right round. And worse.’

The killadar was standing close to the edge of the pit and beckoned to them. As they drew closer Arthur caught a glimpse of an animal’s skin as it prowled round the far side of the pit: a tawny yellow with darker stripes.

‘Tigers! It’s a tiger pit.’

They approached the rim of the pit carefully. Three huge tigers were sitting chewing on what looked like the remains of a man. Arthur felt sick.Then the full scale of the horror hit him as he reached the edge of the pit and stared down. There were perhaps a dozen mauled bodies scattered across the floor. The tattered remains of their red uniform jackets was proof enough of who they were. The men who had accompanied the three English officers began to mutter angrily at the sight.

‘Prisoners,’ Arthur realised. ‘The men we lost in the tope.’

‘What have they done to them?’ Fitzroy asked quietly.

Arthur looked more closely and saw that most of the necks of the dead were twisted round at horrible angles. Some of them had what looked like huge nails sticking out of the top of their skulls. He stared at the bodies a moment, as nausea welled up in his stomach. Then he glanced at the jettis again. Surely not, he thought. God, please not that.

Baird had been watching his expression and read his thoughts precisely. ‘That’s right, Wellesley. These men did it. Beat the nails into the skulls of our men with their bare hands, while our men still lived. I know, I saw them do it when I was a prisoner here. Indeed, I lived with the thought that they would do that to me one day.’ Baird looked pale as he spoke.

‘Bastards . . .’ one of the soldiers growled as he stared on the bodies of his comrades. Suddenly he swung round, lowered his bayonet and drove it into the stomach of one of the jettis. The man doubled over with a deep explosive groan under the impact.

While the officers watched, too shocked to react, the soldier withdrew the weapon, reversed it and swung the butt against the jetti’s head, then kicked the man over the edge of the pit. He landed with a thud and a crack as his arm broke under the weight of his muscled body. At his cry one of the tigers roused itself and padded cautiously towards him, and despite the pain from his wounds the man screamed in terror.

The soldier turned to his comrades. ‘Finish them all, lads! Kill these bloody butchers. All of them.’ He turned and pointed at the killadar.

‘No!’ Arthur bellowed and drew his sword, hurriedly stepping between his men and the killadar. ‘Stand still, damn you! Stand still, I said.’

For a moment there was a tense confrontation and then the soldier lowered his musket and grounded it.The others followed his lead and stood waiting for orders.There was a piercing shriek of pain from the pit, and then some more, and growls, before the man was silenced with a powerful snap of a tiger’s jaws. One of the surviving jettis dropped to his knees and began to beg, huge glistening tears pricking out of his eyes as he wailed for mercy.

‘You’d better go and find Tipoo’s body.’ Baird spoke calmly. ‘That oily-looking bastard of a bureaucrat can identify him. I’ll take care of the situation here.’

Arthur looked at him suspiciously.‘What are you going to do, sir?’

‘The jettis will be executed. We’ll have to shoot the tigers to get at the remains of our men for burial. I’ll attend to it.You go and find Tipoo.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Arthur gestured to the entrance to the courtyard and told the killadar to lead him to the last place Tipoo had been seen. As they left the courtyard Arthur looked back once. Baird stood off to one side, simply watching, as the men dragged the first of the jettis over to the edge of the pit and thrust him over the edge.

‘You saw what they did to our men,’ Fitzroy said through clenched teeth. ‘They deserve what’s coming to them.’

‘No man deserves that,’Arthur said firmly, and gently eased his friend out of the courtyard. They followed the killadar along a wide thoroughfare that led to the water gate. A company of the 73rd Foot had been left to hold the position and they roused themselves as the officers and the native approached. It was clear that some of the fiercest fighting of the day had taken place here. Bodies of English and native warriors were