In Clives Command

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In Clive's Command, by Herbert Strang

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Title: In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India
Author: Herbert Strang

Release Date: July 29, 2005 [eBook #16382]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN CLIVE'S COMMAND***
E-text prepared by Martin Robb

IN CLIVE'S COMMAND
A Story of the Fight for India
by
HERBERT STRANG

Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
: In which the Court Leet of Market Drayton entertains Colonel Robert Clive; and our hero makes an acquaintance.
Chapter 2
: In which our hero overhears a conversation; and, meeting with the unexpected, is none the less surprised and offended.
Chapter 3
: In which Mr. Marmaduke Diggle talks of the Golden East; and our hero interrupts an interview, and dreams dreams.
Chapter 4
: In which blows are exchanged; and our hero, setting forth upon his travels, scents an adventure.
Chapter 5
: In which Job Grinsell explains; and three visitors come by night to the Four Alls.
Chapter 6
: In which the reader becomes acquainted with William Bulger and other sailor men; and our hero as a squire of dames acquits himself with credit.
Chapter 7
: In which Colonel Clive suffers an unrecorded defeat; and our hero finds food for reflection.
Chapter 8
: In which several weeks are supposed to elapse; and our hero is discovered in the Doldrums.
Chapter 9
: In which the Good Intent makes a running fight: Mr. Toley makes a suggestion.
Chapter 10
: In which our hero arrives in the Golden East, and Mr. Diggle presents him to a native prince.
Chapter 11
: In which the Babu tells the story of King Vikramaditya; and the discerning reader may find more than appears on the surface.
Chapter 12
: In which our hero is offered freedom at the price of honor; and Mr. Diggle finds that others can quote Latin on occasion.
Chapter 13
: In which Mr. Diggle illustrates his argument; and there are strange doings in Gheria harbor.
Chapter 14
: In which seven bold men light a big bonfire; and the Pirate finds our hero a bad bargain.
Chapter 15
: In which our hero weathers a storm; and prepares for squalls.
Chapter 16
: In which a mutiny is quelled in a minute; and our Babu proves himself a man of war.
Chapter 17
: In which our hero finds himself among friends; and Colonel Clive prepares to astonish Angria.
Chapter 18
: In which Angria is astonished; and our hero begins to pay off old scores.
Chapter 19
: In which the scene changes; the dramatis personae remaining the same.
Chapter 20
: In which there are recognitions and explanations; and our hero meets one Coja Solomon, of Cossimbazar.
Chapter 21
: In which Coja Solomon finds dishonesty the worse policy; and a journey down the Hugli little to his liking.
Chapter 22
: In which is given a full, true, and particular account of the Battle of the Carts.
Chapter 23
: In which there are many moving events; and our hero finds himself a cadet of John Company.
Chapter 24
: In which the danger of judging by appearance is notably exemplified.
Chapter 25
: In which our hero embarks on a hazardous mission; and Monsieur Sinfray's khansaman makes a confession.
Chapter 26
: In which presence of mind is shown to be next best to absence of body.
Chapter 27
: In which an officer of the Nawab disappears; and Bulger reappears.
Chapter 28
: In which Captain Barker has cause to rue the day when he met Mr. Diggle; and our hero continues to wipe off old scores.
Chapter 29
: In which our hero does not win the Battle of Plassey: but, where all do well, gains as much glory as the rest.
Chapter 30
: In which Coja Solomon reappears: and gives our hero valuable information.
Chapter 31
: In which friends meet, and part: and our hero hints a proposal.
Chapter 32
: In which the curtain falls to the sound of wedding bells: and our hero comes to his own.

Preface
I have not attempted in this story to give a full account of the career of Lord Clive. That has been done by my old friend, Mr. Henty, in "With Clive in India." It has always seemed to me that a single book provides too narrow a canvas for the display of a life so full and varied as Clive's, and that a work of fiction is bound to suffer, structurally and in detail, from the compression of the events of a lifetime within so restricted a space. I have therefore chosen two outstanding events in the history of India--the capture of Gheria and the battle of Plassey--and have made them the pivot of a personal story of adventure. The whole action of the present work is comprised in the years from 1754 to 1757.
But while