It was at this time that Rajah Sahib
determined to assault Arcot. Stimulating drugs were employed to aid
the effect of religious zeal, and the besiegers, drunk with
enthusiasm, drunk with bang, rushed furiously to the attack.
24. "Clive had received secret intelligence of the design, had made
his arrangements, and, exhausted by fatigue, had thrown himself on his
bed. He was awakened by the alarm, and was instantly at his post. The
enemy advanced, driving before them elephants whose foreheads were
armed with iron plates. It was expected that the gates would yield to
the shock of these living battering-rams. But the huge beasts no
sooner felt the English musket-balls than they turned round and rushed
furiously away, trampling on the multitude which had urged them
forward. A raft was launched on the water which filled one part of the
ditch. Clive, perceiving that his gunners at that post did not
understand their business, took the management of a piece of artillery
himself, and cleared the raft in a few minutes.
25. "Where the moat was dry the assailants mounted with great
boldness; but they were received with a fire so heavy and so well
directed that it soon quelled the courage even of fanaticism and
intoxication. The rear ranks of the English kept the front ranks
supplied with a constant succession of loaded muskets, and every shot
told on the living mass below.
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