Mahrattas offered him two lakhs of rupees if he would support them in
attacking Dabul, but he dared not exceed his orders again, and returned to
Bombay. The success of a second _coup-de-main_ could not be relied on, and
a repulse would have restored Toolajee's drooping spirits, and made future
success more difficult. The soldiers Bombay had lent to Madras were no
longer required, so James was sent there in the _Protector_, to bring them
back after the monsoon.

In the end of October, an unexpected accession of force, from England,
reached Bombay. In the suspension of arms that had been concluded at
Madras between the English and French, Carnatic affairs alone were made
the subject of agreement. Bussy, with a French force, remained in the
Deccan, engaged in extending the Nizam's influence, a proceeding that was
viewed with alarm by the Peishwa. With the object of expelling the French
from the Deccan, the English Government sent out to Bombay a force of
seven hundred men, to act against Bussy, in concert with the Mahratta
Government. The command was to be taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, the
Company's engineer-general at Madras. The Directors had also sent Clive to
Bombay to act as second in command to Scott. But Scott had died, in the
mean time, and the _Doddington_, East Indiaman, bringing the Directors'
instructions to the Bombay Council, had been wrecked near the Cape. Before
the middle of November, Watson's squadron arrived, in furtherance of the
Deccan project, together with James, in the _Protector_, bringing two
hundred and fifty-five Bombay soldiers from Madras. Clive, alone, knew of
the Directors' plan for the Deccan, and urged it on the Council. Ramajee
Punt was in Bombay urging them to complete the destruction of Angria, and
inviting them to take possession of Bankote;[2] so they decided to devote
themselves to Gheriah, on the grounds that the Deccan expedition would be
an infringement of the late agreement with the French.