Inside
Trichinopoli were a few English soldiers under Captain Cope, and a
small body of troops of Muhammud Ali; while outside the walls, between
them and the besiegers, was the English force under Gingen, the men
utterly dispirited, the officer without talent, resolution, or
confidence.
Before leaving the troops with which he had won the battle of Arni,
Clive had expressed, to the two young writers, his high appreciation
of their conduct during the siege of Arcot; and promised them that he
would make it a personal request, to the authorities at Fort Saint
David, that they might be permanently transferred from the civil to
the military branch of the service; and such a request, made by him,
was certain to be complied with. He strongly advised them to spend
every available moment of their time in the study of the native
language; as, without that, they would be useless if appointed to
command a body of Sepoys.
Delighted at the prospect, now open to them, of a permanent relief
from the drudgery of a clerk's life in Madras, the young fellows were
in the highest spirits; and Tim Kelly was scarcely less pleased, when
he heard that Charlie was now likely to be always employed with him.
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