68 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
at the mercy of a very small band of the enemy, he 
called lustily upon his guards for rescue, and, in a 
second, seven of his captors were prostrate on the plain, 
and my grandfather and three of his gallant men were 
taken prisoners and hurried from the field in rapid 
flight. 
“ Hyder was excited to frenzy by the unexpected 
loss of a victory which he had already called his own, 
and by the disproportionate carnage between his own 
ranks and those of the foe ; moreover he was stirred 
to fury and revenge by the sight of the princely forms 
and demeanour of the few prisoners whom he had 
carried off. From his darkly clouded brow he cast 
upon them a glance of envious hate and rage, and, 
in a voice of thunder, commanded them to be shot 
like dogs and exposed to the vultures. Then recalling 
his sentence he cried with a fiendish laugh; 'Nay! let 
these Pagans bear witness how greatly we esteem 
their boasted beauty and their prowess. It were 
cruel to withhold such able gallants from their anxious 
loves, their weeping mistresses ; 'twere cruel to keep 
back such god-like heroes from their victorious and 
rejoicing comrades. Unbind them] give them their 
liberty ; restore them to their fond flatterers and their 
noble compatriots. Let them go and tell of their 
glorious deeds among our people ; how they took 
Hyder Ali prisoner with all his army and earned 
them into a far land and barred them in rocky pri- 
sons; or let them modestly discount the value of 
