‘No doubt about it,’ said Henry. ‘A Portuguese ship came up the Hoogley yesterday.The captain had called in to Mauritius on his way north from the Cape. I interviewed him as soon as I could. He saved me this copy of the proclamation. He also said that he had seen Tipoo’s ambassadors, and that they were given full honours by the French. Rather worrying, don’t you think?’

‘Quite,’ Richard agreed.

Arthur was not so sure, and he sat down for a moment to reflect on the news before he responded. ‘It’s clear that the French aim to establish some kind of base of operations in Mysore, but there’s no chance of capitalising on it for a while at least.’

‘Explain yourself,’ Richard said curtly.

‘As far as we know, the French have no significant land forces in the Indian Ocean at the moment. True?’

Henry nodded.

‘And if France is intending to send an army out to India then why announce it so publicly? Why give us so much warning? It doesn’t make sense.’

Richard frowned and tapped the proclamation.‘So what is the meaning of this? What are they up to?’

‘It seems to me that the Governor of Mauritius is trying to encourage Tipoo to make war on us. It won’t cost France much more than encouraging words and a handful of supplies and advisers. If Tipoo wins the day then France can share in the spoils. If Tipoo is defeated then the French can at least hope that he has inflicted enough damage on us to significantly undermine our reputation.’

Richard smiled. ‘Ah yes, it’s that question of iqbal again.’

‘Precisely. If our prestige is undermined it might be a long time before we win back the respect of the natives. Long enough at least for the French to gather forces to intervene more decisively.’

‘I see.’ Richard crossed to the window and gazed out across the ramparts towards Calcutta and the Hoogley river. ‘Arthur, are we ready for a war against Tipoo?’

‘No. And we won’t be for some months yet. Our forces are too widely dispersed and we would need time to amass the necessary equipment and supplies to support an army.’

‘When is the earliest that we could be ready to fight?’ asked Henry.

‘Not until next year. Spring, I’d say.’

‘Spring . . .’ Richard sighed and turned away from the window. ‘In the meantime, I think we should move some forces closer to Mysore to show him that we will defend what’s ours.’

‘That would be wise.’

Richard sat down. ‘Now then, to relieve the atmosphere of some of its gloom, I have some good news to relate. Concerning the Nizam.’

‘Oh?’