The troop was now dressed in
uniform, and in arms and discipline resembled the irregular cavalry in
the Company's service, and when Dick arrived at Vellore he found his
uncle and cousins there with their cavalry.
"I thought, Dick, of only sending the boys," the Rajah said, "but when
the time came for them to start, I felt that I must go myself. We have
suffered enough at the hands of Mysore, and I do hope to see Tippoo's
capital taken, and his power of mischief put an end to, for good and
all."
"I am glad, indeed, that you are coming, Uncle. You may be sure that,
whenever I can get away from my duties with the general, I shall spend
most of my time in your camp, though I must occasionally drop in on my
own regiment."
The Rajah had already been down to Madras a month before, and with his
sons had been introduced to General Harris, by the latter's chief of
the staff, as having been always, like his father before him, a
faithful ally of the English, and as having accompanied Lord
Cornwallis on the occasion of the last campaign in Mysore. The general
had thanked him, heartily, for his offer to place his two hundred
cavalry at the disposal of the government, and had expressed a hope
that he, as well as his sons, would accompany it in the field.
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