Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/347

ATTACK ON THE EUROPEANS 281 place outside of the ditch was taken and plundered, and the occupants were slain. Detachments were then ordered to the villages and places on both sides of the river, so that all the Christians found there might be put to death. Having killed or captured all the infidels, the warriors carried off the families of their boatmen, all of whom were Bengalis, whereupon four thousand boatmen left the Europeans and joined the victorious army, thus greatly discouraging the Christians. The royal army was engaged for three months and a half in the siege of this strong place. Sometimes the infidels fought and sometimes they made overtures of peace, protracting the time in hopes of succour from their countrymen. With base treachery they pretended to make proposals of peace and sent almost a hundred thousand rupees as tribute, while at the same time they ordered seven thousand musketeers who were in their service to open fire with their guns. So heavy was their fusilade that many of the trees of a grove in which a large force of the besiegers was posted were stripped of their branches and leaves. At length the besiegers sent their pioneers to work upon the ditch just by the church, where it was not so broad and deep as elsewhere. There they dug channels and drew off the water, after which mines were driven on from the trenches, but two of these were discovered by the enemy and countermined. The centre mine was carried under an edifice which was loftier and stronger than all the other buildings, and in which a large num- ber of Europeans were stationed. This was charged