Page:History of the French in India.djvu/401

BUSSY MAKES HEAD AGAINST HIS ENEMY. 377 ing to 500 Europeans and 4,000 sipahis, assembled chap. there. His first step was to re-establish the relaxed , _1 discipline of his little army, the next to restore their 1753. confidence : this done he marched upon Haidarabad. The governor of that place, intimidated by his prompt action, and seeing that the scheme of his chief had missed fire, consented, after some demur, to liquidate the arrears of pay, without, however, engaging to make any stipulation for the future. Meanwhile, a letter from Dupleix to the Subadar had made Saiyid Lashkar aware of the interception of his letter to Mr. Saunders. He knew then that the mask had fallen from his visage, and that the keen glance of the ruler of Pondichery had read all the thoughts of his heart. Still he seemed resolved to trust to the chapter of accidents to carry him through his hazardous game. Still he refused to advance the necessary sums to Janville's detachment. Still he ordered Muhammad Husen Khan to temporise and gain time. He thought most probably that at Aurangabad, in the extremity of the Dakhan, in close contiguity to the almost impreg- nable fortress of Daolatabad, he was safe even from the scorn of Dupleix and the vengeance of Bussy. But he was not. The communications of Bussy with Muhammad Husen, and the shifting and prevaricating conduct of the latter, very soon convinced the French leader that, under the circumstances of the case, but one course of action remained to him. He must march at once to th e city which the advisers of the Subadar had selected as the place whence to offer to himself and his French these repeated insults ; he must push these traitors from their seats, and re-establish with the Subadar his old bonds of confidence and amity. Every preparation accordingly was at once made for a march upon Aurangabad on the conclusion of the rains. An undertaking more hazardous, more difficult, more daring, it is not easy to conceive. From Haidarabad to