Note 42 — Chapter IX

A considerable body, cavalry and infantry, of Tanjore troops, with fifty Europeans, and one thousand English sepoys, were engaged in this attack; which is chiefly remarkable for the attempt made upon the person of the French General. A body of fifty horsemen advanced, at daylight, to the French outposts: they inquired for Lally, saying they wished to take service. They were conducted to the General, who, being informed of their request, came out from a choultry to speak to them: at this moment one of the Tanjore horsemen, supposed to be intoxicated, fired his pistol into a tumbril, which, by its explosion, gave a general alarm. The leader of the party, observing this, rode at Lally, who, however, defended himself with a stick, and the man was shot by an attendant, while the French guard succeeded in repelling a charge made by his comrades.