Orders were accordingly issued that the old men, the women, and
children should at once leave the town; and, under guard of one
battalion of troops, take refuge in an almost impregnable hill fort
some miles away. One battalion was placed in garrison in the castle.
The other three, with the irregulars, took post in the town, whence
they could, if necessary, retreat into the castle.
The day following the removal of the noncombatants the enemy appeared,
coming down the valley, having marched over the hills; while the
Mahratta cavalry again poured up from below.
Charlie had taken the command of the town, as it was against this that
the efforts of the enemy would be first directed. It was an imposing
sight, as the army of the nizam wound down the valley; the great
masses of men with their gay flags, the elephants with the gold
embroidery of their trappings glistening in the sun, the bands of
horsemen careering here and there, the lines of artillery drawn by
bullocks; and, less picturesque but far more menacing, the dark body
of French infantry, who formed the nucleus and heart of the whole. The
camp was pitched just out of range of the guns of the fort, and soon
line after line of tents, gay with the flags that floated above them,
rose across the valley.
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