THE TIGER OF MYSORE***
E-text prepared by Martin Robb
THE TIGER OF MYSORE:
A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib
by
G. A. HENTY.
Illustrated by W. H. Margetson
1895
Preface. Chapter 1: A Lost Father. Chapter 2: A Brush With Privateers. Chapter 3: The Rajah. Chapter 4: First Impressions. Chapter 5: War Declared. Chapter 6: A Perilous Adventure. Chapter 7: Besieged. Chapter 8: The Invasion Of Mysore. Chapter 9: News Of The Captive. Chapter 10: In Disguise. Chapter 11: A Useful Friend. Chapter 12: A Tiger In A Zenana. Chapter 13: Officers Of The Palace. Chapter 14: A Surprise. Chapter 15: Escape. Chapter 16: The Journey. Chapter 17: Back At Tripataly. Chapter 18: A Narrow Escape. Chapter 19: Found At Last. Chapter 20: The Escape. Chapter 21: Home.
Preface.
While some of our wars in India are open to the charge that they were undertaken on slight provocation, and were forced on by us in order that we might have an excuse for annexation, our struggle with Tippoo Saib was, on the other hand, marked by a long endurance of wrong, and a toleration of abominable cruelties perpetrated upon Englishmen and our native allies. Hyder Ali was a conqueror of the true Eastern type. He was ambitious in the extreme. He dreamed of becoming the Lord of the whole of Southern India. He was an able leader, and, though ruthless where it was his policy to strike terror, he was not cruel from choice.
His son, Tippoo, on the contrary, revelled in acts of the most abominable cruelty. It would seem that he massacred for the very pleasure of massacring, and hundreds of British captives were killed by famine, poison, or torture, simply to gratify his lust for murder. Patience was shown towards this monster until patience became a fault, and our inaction was naturally ascribed by him to fear. Had firmness been shown by Lord Cornwallis, when Seringapatam was practically in his power, the second war would have been avoided and thousands of lives spared. The blunder was a costly one to us, for the work had to be done all over again, and the fault of Lord Cornwallis retrieved by the energy and firmness of the Marquis of Wellesley.
The story of the campaign is taken from various sources, and the details of the treatment of the prisoners from the published narratives of two officers who effected their escape from prisons.
G. A. Henty.
Chapter 1: A Lost Father.
"There is no saying, lad, no saying at all. All I know is that your father, the captain, was washed ashore at the same time as I was. As you have heard me say, I owed my life to him. I was pretty nigh gone when I caught sight of him, holding on to a spar. Spent as I was, I managed to give a shout loud enough to catch his ear. He looked round. I waved my hand and shouted, 'Goodbye, Captain!' Then I sank lower and lower, and felt that it was all over, when, half in a dream, I heard your father's voice shout, 'Hold on, Ben!' I gave one more struggle, and then I felt him catch me by the arm. I don't remember what happened, until I found myself lashed to the spar beside him.
"'That is right, Ben,' he said cheerily, as I held up my head; 'you will do now. I had a sharp tussle to get you here, but it is all right. We are setting inshore fast. Pull yourself together, for we shall have a rough time of it in the surf. Anyhow, we will stick together, come what may.'
"As the waves lifted us up, I saw the coast, with its groves of coconuts almost down to the water's edge, and white sheets of surf running up high on the sandy beach. It was not more than a hundred yards away, and the captain sang out,
