Part 6

Here three tedious years rolled over our heads, during which period we learned, that, previous to Hyder’s usurpation, this place was held by a rajah or prince, happy in his subjects, having a district to himself, as we were informed by some intelligent Hindoos; but in process of time, Hyder got possession of this strong fortress. In consequence of this revolution, a certain man of the cast of Bramins, whose covering I have often seen, lay in one spot fourteen years: he uttered scarcely any thing but imprecations against Hyder and his son Tippoo. The situation he was in was so low, that it appeared to me strange how he escaped destruction by inundations in the monsoon seasons. We were for three years in the pettah, or suburbs; but all of a sudden, our habitation, with the walls in which we were immured, being destroyed, we were removed into the lower fort, during which time, about nine months, we all saw this strange character, or the spot where he lay, rather; hearing him speak frequently, and once or twice seeing his hands. We often spoke to him, and sometimes he would reply, but at times he would not. When he did speak, he would either use abusive language towards Hyder, or ask for patamy.[21] We were informed that he had a guard over him six months prior to our arrival, in order to detect the imposition; but his supposed madness saved him, for the Mohammedans have a great respect for all of this description. Many strange stories were told about this singular person. All I shall add, is, that we were many months near him, both by night and day, he still continuing the same language, and lying in the same spot. We often laughed at the strange stories relative to this man; but, from auricular and ocular demonstration, we could not avoid believing some of them.

This place abounds with apes of the largest stature I ever saw, the ourang-outang excepted, and the natives do not injure, but rather indulge them. This made them bold, which was by no means an addition to our comfort; for we found it absolutely necessary to act on the defensive; one of our meals out of two being generally taken from us by these depredators; and such was their temerity, that a stout stick would scarcely alarm them. In short, we were forced to oppose cunning to cunning; they to steal our rooties, (cakes baked on a flat earthen pan,) and we to hinder them. They might frequently be seen in multitudes on their inaccessible hills, parading in squadrons; and various reports were handed to us relative to these creatures, but I pass them by as such. A brief description of one more curious animal, and I will resume my narrative.

We killed a snake at this place, not exceeding two feet in length; out of the middle of its belly grew an arm, similar to a human arm, from the elbow downwards; the whole of which was formed with the most exquisite delicacy. The joints, the nails, and every part belonging to it, equalled, if not exceeded, any thing I ever saw, in point of formation. I have often regretted I did not bring its skin home, as I had it in my possession; but at that time there was very little prospect of my bringing home my own. Numbers of the natives who saw this reptile, considered it as something ominous.

Often have I paraded in the most disconsolate manner, in the silence of those delicious nights peculiar to that country, and which are not to be described by the most masterly pencil; when the moon appears in the midst of the firmament with her beams gradually dispersed, surrounded by a soft curtain of clouds. But, alas! they were no beauties to me; the ever-prevailing impression still corroding my mind, with my heart ready to burst at the thought of being for ever cut off from all that were near and dear to me. I had no prospect, not the most distant hope, of ever seeing again my country, parents, friends, or one who was equally the object of my tenderest solicitude. I have digressed thus, in stating the ideas that continually preyed on my heart, because they were really grievous to me.

The melancholy hours we passed here would take a more able pen than mine to describe; in fact, I do not think any could do it justice. I have observed before, that we were all young, yet none of us dared sing “Rule Britannia,” or even hum it with impunity. We prohibited it between ourselves, under the impression of bitterness, and the idea of every hope being marred of ever seeing our country or friends again.

The taunts and insolence of the guards were no small addition to our misery. We had the feelings of Englishmen, and we suffered from their insults more severely than from their punishments. We could not forbear uttering the most bitter invectives against them, although at the expense of our lives, had we been heard; but we were almost unmindful of their hate. Barbarity and cruelty were all we did, or could expect, from a tyrant; therefore we were almost callous to his power to injure us. We remembered our own native soil, where the freedom of the subject is co-equal with that of his sovereign, and despised those wretches, who so far swerved from the dictates of every honourable and manly principle, as to treat us with such baseness.

When we could meet together, which at this period was very dangerous, our conversation was very scanty, having no subject but our misfortunes to discuss. Hence a question would be, after perhaps a long silence, started by one of the party, Do you think we shall ever see our parents or country more? This never failed to draw tears from some eyes, and sighs from others’ bosoms; and here we could not refrain from inveighing bitterly against the government. But, alas! of what use! Our hopes were cut off, and we were secure. Patience, and an affiance in the Almighty, were our only consolation.

CHAP. VI.

_War renewed with the English—Bangalore taken from Tippoo.— Author and Companions entertain some Hopes of Escaping— Seem zealous for Tippoo—Obtain Confidence—Trusted with Arms—Gain Military Employment—Storm a Fort—Meditate an Escape—Make an Effort—Compelled to Return—Take their Final Departure—Progress of their Journey—Accidents— Enter some Mahratta Forts—Alarm—Danger—Seasonable Relief—Reach a Hospital, under the Care of an English Doctor—Kindly received—Visit the Mahratta Camp— Hospitable Treatment—March with the Army—Military Progress—Extraordinary Death of a Sepoy—Repair to Madras—Sail for England, and arrive in Safety._

Nearly four tedious years had rolled away, during which we had scarcely heard of war; at length, Bangalore was taken by Lord Cornwallis: this was news indeed! but we were forced to dissemble, and affect to be very sorrowful. How necessary to act the hypocrite in some cases! We soon learned also—for they were kinder to us now, through fear—that the Mahrattas were making (to us glorious) inroads into Tippoo’s country, which afforded us some hopes of one day having an opportunity of making our escape. The Mahrattas, our allies, had, in the course of a few months, taken and destroyed two-thirds of the district of Chitteldroog; when Dowlah Saib, then killadare, or governor, not so unfriendly to the English as many others in his situation, collected together a force of about 3500, inclusive of the four battalions in which we were. With these he frequently made excursions, in order to retake from our allies what they had taken from him; and in these excursions we were always excepted.

We now more than ever put our mental powers to work, to effect our escape; the plan we adopted, was, apparently to be more zealous than ever we had been, in Tippoo’s service. When we supposed this was sufficiently noticed, we went to the commandant, who had the sole direction of the four battalions. We could now all talk the language fluently, and we appointed Mr. Drake, midshipman of the Hannibal, to negociate this, to us, important business, in which he acted the hypocrite admirably, and to our entire satisfaction. On our arrival before him, after paying our most reverential Mohammedan obedience, we humbly asked him the reason that we were not taken with our battalions? He frankly answered us, for he was by no means a cruel Moor, that he was apprehensive we should leave him. Here he was perfectly right; but duplicity was our only alternative. We therefore began to work upon his credulity, giving him to understand, that we had been a long time in the service, and had long eaten the sultan’s salt, (a common expression among the Moors;) that many of us had children, and that we were become as themselves; that we did not consider ourselves deficient in personal courage, and wished for an opportunity of shewing it. Our reasons had the desired effect: he placed confidence in our observations, good man; and the next day each was ordered a musket, bayonet, and twenty rounds of ammunition, &c.

We were not long unemployed, for our killadare receiving advice that Tilligore, a mud fort of some little strength, had been taken, not by the Mahrattas, but by a banditti of Canaries, he ordered his forces to be in readiness to march the next morning against them. We were taken with our battalions, and two days brought us near its walls, a distance of sixty miles. Here we halted for the night, and the next morning our commander, the killadare himself, sent a summons to the fort to surrender; but their answer being of a spirited nature, we were ordered to advance, and such was their tenderness towards us, that we were selected, and placed in front, like a forlorn hope; with this exception, that a forlorn hope is generally composed of volunteers, but we had no choice.

The fort was surrounded by a formidable thicket, which is always the case in the interior, where wild beasts abound; which we breached with our bayonets, throwing it in different directions. While doing this, we were assailed by stones, some of them a pound weight, from slings; one of our number, which was twelve altogether, was knocked down by a stone, and lost an eye. On entering the thicket, three more fell; two were killed, and one was wounded by a ball through his shoulder. The blacks now came to our assistance on the glacis; but here we had no chance of doing any execution, unless we could pass a shot through their loop-holes while they were in the act of firing. Scaling ladders were at length brought, and the poor wretches who had to erect them were scalded in a dreadful manner, by the besieged pouring on them boiling oil mixed with cowdung. However, one ladder was erected, on which about thirty mounted, when they threw a large log over the wall, which struck the ladder about the middle, and broke it; they all fell; and several with their swords through the bodies of their companions. Two small field-pieces were now brought out, served by Frenchmen, and by cannonading for about three hours, a breach in the wall was made, and deemed practicable; but the ladder was found considerably too short. Here numbers fell; and had they stood to it, they would have repulsed 3500 with about 90 men: but their ammunition failing, they grew timid, and ran from the breach, which they had defended awhile with bravery.

In short, the fort was stormed, the males were put to the sword, with the exception of a few, whom I am proud to say we were instrumental in saving, and who called upon all the deities they ever worshipped, to bless and preserve us. Mr. Wentworth Augustus Lesage, a midshipman of the Hannibal, was shot through the heart. He was the next man to me; we were like brothers, so firm a friendship existed between us, and were never apart more than necessary. As he was falling, I caught him in my arms, and at the same instant a black from the fort was deliberately levelling his musket at me. I fortunately observed him, laid the body of my unfortunate friend down, took up my musket, and, although it was unloaded, presented it at the deliberate villain; at which he was alarmed, and ran from his situation. Thus, by a sudden presence of mind, I saved my life. Lesage was one of the finest, and perhaps strongest, young men in India, both in body and mind, and was lamented by all who knew him, both black and white. He had made such rapid proficiency in a knowledge of their manners and customs, that, had he lived, he would have been an honour to his country, and a rival to Sir William Jones in Asiatic literature. They wished us to leave him where he fell; but myself and Mr. Drake, whom I have already mentioned, got a camel, (a blanket made of camel’s hair,) tied the four corners together, put a pole through it, and in this way carried him to a paddy, or rice field, where, with our hands and bayonets together, we secured him as well as we could under ground; but doubtless the jackals, which were remarkably numerous, soon had him up again. This being done, the night advanced apace; and when the butchery was over, which is more or less the consequence of storming, every thing that was inflammable was set on fire.

We now considered it a fair opportunity of pushing off; but the tears and forcible entreaties of two of our party, who were wounded, prevented us for this time. Poor fellows! they knew what their fate would be, had we left them; besides, they belonged to five of us, who had bound ourselves many years before never to forsake each other. In short, we returned to Chitteldroog, after losing about 200 men; and knowing we had not behaved amiss, expected soon another opportunity, but this did not offer for three months afterwards.

In the intermediate period, our good commandant, in a fit of madness, from taking too much opium, cut his throat, and thus saved himself from reprehension respecting us. Three months elapsed, when one night we were assembled for an excursion.[22] About half-past ten, we marched from the fort, and at day break encamped ten miles distant from Chitteldroog, where we lay inactive for several days. Here they kept a jealous eye over us, particularly by night, so that it was next to impossible to effect any thing; knowing this, we were determined to try the day for the attempt. Noon was agreed on as the most proper time. The five[23] of us who had long bound ourselves to each other for this purpose, accordingly stole out of the camp, singly, in different directions, and met at the distance of a mile, as by agreement; immediately pushing for a jungle, or wood, which lay about six miles distant, which, if we could reach, would crush the alarming fears we were under from the pursuit of their cavalry. We had no arms at this time, but a carbine, which Mr. Drake carried behind him, covered by his black camel. We were now pushing on rapidly, when, to our great consternation, we saw a company of armed men coming the same road we were going. They could not but see us; we instantly separated, and, providentially for us, a tremendous shower of rain came on at the moment, which well covered our retreat back to the camp. We learned, in the evening, that a company of sixty men were the day before sent on a reconnoitring expedition: this was the party; and we were not a little rejoiced at our narrow escape.

About eight o’clock in the evening, an order was issued to strike our tents, and from the hurry and bustle that prevailed, we concluded that an enemy, or friend to us rather, was near. Immediately, the line took arms, and was on its march for Chitteldroog. The sky darkened, and an approach of rain was near, the effects of which they were intent upon guarding against: this was our time. We belonged to different companies, but the heavy rain did away with all restrictions. We joined, and pushed through several battalions which were on our left, in order to gain a jungle, which was at no great distance. It was now very dark; we entered the jungle, and slackened our pace. Being in the rear, I thought I could discern something behind me, when, halting and turning round, I distinguished a person following us; I asked in Moorish, “Who is that?” “Richardson,” was the answer. This poor fellow, who was suspicious of our design, had narrowly watched our motions: we were glad to find it was he, and asked him what was his motive for this conduct? He replied, “To go with you.” We gave him our hands, and desired him to come on, which he did for a quarter of a mile, when he suddenly stopped, and wept aloud. We asked him the cause of this behaviour, but received no answer for some time, when we forced him to explain himself. The poor fellow, then, in broken accents, told us he could not leave his children! He had two; this wrung my heart, but it did not alter my resolutions! we gave him all the encouragement we could, but all to no purpose, and he went back with his heart ready to burst, but made his escape afterwards.

We soon, to our comfort, got out of the jungle; and it then appeared a little lighter, but not a star was to be seen. Here we should have been in an awful dilemma, had the winds been variable, as they are in the western world; but the trade wind, so called, was very much in our favour; in fact, it was our compass, for keeping it on our right cheek, we knew we were steering due north, which was our proper course to a place of safety.

Here a circumstance happened, which had every appearance of proving a sad misfortune to one of our party. Those who are acquainted with the interior of India, know what kind of thorns are there, as stiff as nails, and as sharp as needles. One ran into Whitway’s foot, which precluded him the possibility of walking. He sat down, and in a manly tone requested we would make the best of our way, with a “God prosper you, for I cannot move a step further.” This was a lamentable case, but we were not disposed to leave him so: we had provided ourselves with little useful articles for our design; we had in our butwaws,[24] flints and steel, and one fortunately had some cotton; and, as necessity is the mother of invention, we put our wits to work. One struck a light, another rolled up a piece of the cotton, while the other two held a camel over his head. Mr. Drake stood surgeon, and, with time and difficulty, extracted the thorn, which was full an inch long. Thus delivered, he joyfully rose, and away we pushed as cheerfully as circumstances would admit. Our chief care now was, to preserve our arms and ammunition in order: these were our secondary dependence; Providence was our first. We knew not how soon we might want them, for it was essentially necessary to be all eye and all ear.

We had not gone three miles farther, when we suddenly fell on a party of armed men, whose numbers we knew not; they were busily employed in preparing their rice and currie. They left all on our approach, and fled one way; and ourselves, no less surprised, turned off another; our business was not fighting, but flying. Shortly after this adventure, we came to a thicket, which we considered a safe and convenient place to take a little refreshment. We consumed what we had, with the exception of a small quantity of raw rice, which we still held good. When the day began to break, we found ourselves near a rising ground, which we lost no time in ascending. Here we had a view of two villages, at the foot of the hill, belonging to Tippoo, where we could discern the people preparing their food, and at their different employments. We lay snug the whole of the day, exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, and torrents of rain, alternately. We could see Chitteldroog at a distance of about twenty miles. Here more genuine sorrow oppressed me; and not speaking to an affectionate woman, or even kissing a lovely child, preyed on my spirits. Great Being! thou, and thou only, knowest what the joyful, gloomy fluctuations of a mind under similar circumstances are! I fain would have gone back, could I have done so with safety, yet that was more dangerous than proceeding: but enough.

About five in the evening, we descended the hill, whilst yet good day-light; and fortunately for us, since, having a thick jungle to pass, an attempt to have done it in the dark would have proved fruitless. One of the party, who carried our poor pittance of rice, unfortunately fell into a deep pit, and it was with great difficulty we got him out again; and had we not descended the hill when we did, the obstructions would have been insurmountable after dark. Here some good being directed our weary steps. After passing this difficulty,[25] we saw, by the little light that yet remained, a man driving two or three buffaloes to a ruined village. He saw us, and hastened his pace; but we neared him, and desired him to stop: he was terrified, and made the more haste, until we called out to him in the Tillingey language, which he understood, and stopped immediately. From this poor fellow, for such he was, we gained some information; and one branch appeared to us extremely gratifying, viz. that there was a fort, not more than three miles distant, in the possession of the Mahrattas. We requested him to shew us the road, which he promised to do after he had secured his cattle; we desired him to make haste, which he very reluctantly did. We took the old man with us; and when we came to the fort, he begged we would suffer him to depart,— adding, he should lose his life if he were discovered. This we could easily believe; and after making him swear by his gods, that what he had told us was strictly true, we rewarded him in the best manner we could, and dismissed him.

We entered the fort, which we had no sooner done, than we were surrounded by at least fifty armed men, with pikes, swords, and muskets. A number of haughty questions were asked us; such as, Where we came from? What we were? &c. &c. And as they spoke, they closed on us much; when one roared out, in the Canary language, to seize and bind us: this they supposed we did not understand. We instantly, for not a moment was to be lost, charged the thickest of them, not with a design of injuring, but to intimidate them; it had the desired effect, they fled in all directions, the two sentinels at the gate only remaining. We addressed them, saying, we had no intention of hurting any, and particularly those who were the allies of the English; closing with a request that they would shew us the way out of the fort. They were very surly, and one of them asked us which way we came in? Thinking it would be time thrown away to stand parleying with those wretches, we insisted upon one of them (it was now about midnight) shewing us the way out of the fort; and the man who asked us how we came in, prompted by fear, complied with our demand. This place, we afterwards learned, had recently been taken possession of by the Mahrattas, but Tippoo’s people were still in it, who affected to be well disposed towards the former; but supposing it would soon be in the hands of Tippoo again, would have treated us as they said, but fear checked them. We were not a little joyful on this occasion, and reflected severely on one of our party for advising us to go into the fort. This proved a very fatiguing night’s march indeed. The red heavy soil sticking to our sandals the thickness of an inch, the heavy rains lately fallen, the darkness of the night, with scarcely any rice left, were circumstances truly discouraging; but having no alternative, we pushed on, one leading the van, who was relieved every half hour, as nearly as we could guess, he having the most danger to encounter. This plan was adopted in consequence of three tumbling into a ditch together, during the first night’s march.