424 HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
in chief of his army, in the place of Nandcrauz, who took refuge in the fort of 
Maissour. 
About six months after the late Minister and General had quitted Seringapatam, 
the old King, his brother-in-law, died; and Haider Aly employed every art to gain 
the affection and friendship of his young sovereign. His first object was to induce 
him to suspect his uncle; and, having succeeded in that particular, he obtained an 
order to put himself at the head of his troops to reduce the fort of Maissour, and, 
in a short time, invested it. This place, however, being strongly fortified and well 
defended, held out for three months, when Nanderauz agreed to give it up, on con¬ 
dition that he should receive in exchange the government of Carrour, which is a 
district at about twenty coss to the west of Seringapatam. 
Haider having been hitherto so successful in his projects, and having contrived 
also to remove his adversary to such a distance from the court, began to enjoy all 
the authority that his rank as Minister and General gave him, as well as to indulge 
the belief, that in this situation he was superior to any reverse of fortune. 
The young King however had, from various quarters, and particularly from his 
uncle, who maintained a secret correspondence with him, been informed of the am¬ 
bitious designs of his Minister, and began to entertain serious apprehensions of a 
revolution. He accordingly won to his interest a very artful person, of the name of 
Canderon, who had been placed about his person as a spy; but having been offended 
at the insufferable haughtiness and tyrannic disposition of Haider Aly, assembled the 
guards by the order of the King, made himself master of a part of the ramparts, 
which were near Haider’s residence, and fired upon it. The latter, astonished at thi-s 
enterprize, of which he had not the least suspicion, and having every reason to appre¬ 
hend that the troops which were in the town had been prevailed upon to take part 
against him, he instantly mounted his horse, and fled away with some of his friends 
and domestics, leaving his wife and family behind him, to find a refuge in the fort 
of Bangalore, of which Ibrahim Saib, his uncle, was Governor. 
Previous to his being attacked as I have already mentioned, he had sent to Pon¬ 
dicherry, Mucktom Saib, his brother-in-law, a brave officer, with five thousand 
infantry and three thousand cavalry; but when he fled to Bangalore, he dispatched 
an express to Mucktom, to desire that he would join him with all possible expe¬ 
dition. The King had also sent a special messenger to the Rajah of Bunt-bing, 
a Mahratta chief, and whose residence was at no great distance from the route which 
