pay were equally uncertain, and where promises were made not to be
kept, were provocations which the best soldiers might have found it
difficult to resist. We read of whole regiments in the English and
French services refusing to obey orders, and of mutinies of officers
as well as of men. The one reward of service was the chance of
plunder, and naturally, then, as soon as the fighting with the Nawab
had stopped for a time, the desertions from the British forces were
numerous. Colonel Clive had more than once written to Renault to
remonstrate with him for taking British soldiers into his service.
Probably Renault could have retorted the accusation with justice--at
any rate, he went on enlisting deserters; and from those who had now
come over he formed a company of grenadiers of 50 men, one of
artillery of 30, and one of sailors of 60, wisely giving them a
little higher pay than usual, "to excite their emulation." One of
these was a man named Lee,--

"a corporal and a deserter from the _Tyger_, who pledged
himself to the enemy that he would throw two shells out of
three into the _Tyger_, but whilst he was bringing the mortars
to bear for that purpose, he was disabled by a musket bullet
from the _Kent's_ tops. He was afterwards sent home a
prisoner to England."[27]

As might be expected the younger Frenchmen were wild with delight at
the chance of seeing a good fight. Some of them had been much
disappointed that the Nawab had not attacked Chandernagore in June,
1756. One of them wrote[28]--

"I was charmed with the adventure and the chance
of carrying a musket, having always had" (what Frenchman