Page:History of the French in India.djvu/143

HE CONQUERS THE IMPOSSIBLE. 121 despite of jeers and taunts, of open opposition, and c ^ p - secret calumny. It was in that sense that La Bour- ' , donnais was brave, and being thus brave, he conquered 1744. the impossible. What was the impossible 1 Without ships, without sailors, without an army, the Indian Ocean covered by hostile cruisers, with no resources but those which he had made in the colony, he was asked to embark an army, to traverse the Indian Ocean, to avoid or encoun- ter the trained fleet of the enemy, and to relieve the beleaguered capital of French India. Could he stamp upon the ground and bring into existence the men, the guns, the material, the ships, that he had not 1 Did it not seem a very impossibility % Yet, undeterred by this seeming, La Bourdonnais set to work calmly, patiently, steadfastly, to accomplish the undertaking. To succeed in such an attempt it was especially necessary to greatly dare ; to throw to the winds all dread of responsibility ; to use to the utmost extent the powers at his disposal. La Bourdonnais thus acted. Every ship — and some, despite the English cruisers, did arrive — that touched at Port Louis, likely to be suitable for his purpose, he detained. The objections of the captains and of others interested in the vessels he peremptorily silenced. It was unfortunate that, in addition to other difficulties, the islands, owing to an unwonted scarcity caused by a total failure of the crops, were unable to supply sufficient food for the crews; equally so that a vessel laden with piovisions from Europe, the " Saint Geran," had gone down at the very entrance of the harbour. Such was the scarcity, that the inhabitants of the islands were restricted by an order of the local council to daily rations of one pound of bread or rice for every European and freeman, and a pound and a half of rice for each negro. The necessary requirements for the equipment of the ships, carpenters and smiths and tailors to work