Henry smiled.‘Not a great deal. It seems the French are set on turning Egypt into a province.This man Bonaparte is busy setting up a new government in Egypt, levying taxes, building roads and so on. It’s not difficult to see what the longer term goal might be. With Egypt in their pocket the French will have a base from which to seize the whole of the Levant. Of course, our fear is that such a move would ultimately constitute a threat to us here in India. They will be in a far better position to send men and supplies to the aid of our enemies, like Tipoo.’

Richard leaned forward and stabbed his finger down on the desk. ‘What I want to know is what our bloody Navy was doing while Bonaparte and his army were swanning around the Mediterranean. That glory-chaser, Nelson, was supposed to intercept and destroy any French fleets that left port. Instead, he’s somehow managed to let the entire enemy battle fleet slip past him. The bloody man must be blind.’

‘Well, now that you mention it . . .’ Henry muttered.

‘In any case, it doesn’t matter,’ Richard interrupted. ‘We can’t do anything about it now.The thing is, we have to be aware that this news will encourage Tipoo. I think that the time is fast approaching when he will move against us, unless we act first. I’m just glad that we have settled the situation in Hyderabad. At least we can count on the Nizam’s support for a while yet.And there’ll be no more Frenchmen drip-feeding their revolutionary bile into his ear.’

‘What happened to the French officers?’ asked Henry. ‘How many did you take prisoner?’

‘Over a hundred of them,’Arthur replied.‘I had them escorted to Bombay and put aboard an Indiaman.They’re on their way to England where I imagine they’ll spend the rest of the war on a prison hulk.’

Richard sniffed. ‘Good riddance to ’em. At least that’s put an end to the French influence in Hyderabad.’

‘For now at least,’ Arthur agreed. ‘But they’ll find other ways to try to exert their influence in India. Mark my words.’