No time was lost in carrying out the decision, when once arrived at.
Some natives were paid heavily to endeavour to make their way to
Abercrombie, with orders for him to retire down the ghauts again into
Malabar. Then the whole of the battering train, and the heavy
equipments, were destroyed; and on the 26th of May, the army started
for its long march back to Bangalore.
It had made but six miles when a body of horsemen, some two thousand
strong, were seen approaching. Preparations were instantly made to
repel an attack, when a soldier rode in, and announced that the
horsemen were the advance party of two Mahratta armies, close at hand.
This was welcome news, indeed, for Lord Cornwallis had no idea that
the Mahrattis were within two hundred miles of him, and had come to
believe that they had no intention, whatever, of carrying out their
engagements.
They had, it appeared, sent off a messenger, every day, to inform him
of their movements; but so vigilant were Tippoo's cavalry, that not
one of them ever reached the British. In a few hours, the junction was
completed, and the sufferings of the army were at an end. Stores of
every kind were abundant with the Mahrattis, and not only food, but
clothing, and every necessary of life, could be purchased in the great
bazaars, occupied by the Mahratta traders who accompanied the army.
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