Sultan himself losing his signet, turban, and
state palanquin. After this repulse, when the
citizens of Seringapatam began to grow
discontented and seditious at the prospect of a
siege, the tyrant grew more suspicious and
cruel than ever; and it was understood but
too clearly now, that transportation of
European captives to the hill forts meant
either a speedy or a lingering death.

On the 22nd of September, 1790,
Bristowe and his party finally left Seringapatam
for Ontradroog, a rock fort, fifty
miles north-east of the capital. The parting
from friends during ten years of sorrow
was bitter to bear. A narrow steep path
to the fort, led through a thick forest;
up this path the poor wretches, laden
with heavy irons, were driven by their
guards. There were two or three forts
on the rock, one above the other, and at
the summit was a kind of battery; but the
guns, except two old English nine-pounders,
were mere Malabar iron guns joined by
hoops. The killadar, on their arrival, read
them Tippoo's orders, which directed them
to be deprived of food and guarded with
vigilance and strictness until further
instructions. This meant death for them at
his first check in the field. The lingering
hope of ten years now left these unhappy
men, and profound despair seized them.
They resolved the moment violence should
be offered them, to attack the guard, and
risk all in a last desperate struggle.

For five weeks they remained subsisting
almost entirely on the alms of the soldiers,
and those of the quiet, inoffensive, and
humane Hindoo inhabitants, expecting
every moment the sword at their throats.
Providence one day suggested to the
killadar to employ the last moments of his
prisoners in repairing his old and rusty
artillery. Bristowe, as an educated gunner,
was chosen to survey the guns. He was
lavish in his promises to the credulous
and delighted commander, and took good
care to survey the rock, and the country
below as well as the guns, and to mark all
the strong and all the weak points.
Returning, he told his delighted companions
that he had at last found a road by which
they could descend the rock undiscovered.
They were for trying it at once, forgetting
that there was half a mile to walk on the
rock itself, a high precipice over which they
must throw themselves, a thick forest
full of tigers to traverse, and five or six
guards to elude before all. Every one
wanted his own plan tried, but all at last
agreed that there was one preliminary
step, and that was to breach the mud wall
of the prison and escape by night. Employing
an old knife (a very insufficient tool, for
the wall was uncommonly thick), the men
dug and watched by turns, always selecting
darkness, when the guards were gambling
or revelling. The hole dug was kept moist
by constantly filling it with water. Twenty
days were spent in this cautious mining:
seven prisoners in an adjoining room working
in the same manner. They converted
a knife into a saw, with which they cut
through the rivet of each right fetter,
then transferred it to the other leg, and
muffled their chains with old rags to prevent
their chinking. Then, of the largest and
strongest firewood sent in for them to cook
their rice, the desperate men made
cudgels, resolved in case of discovery to fall
on the sixty men of the garrison, and either
fight their way out or fall. Some Travancore
prisoners one day caught the Englishmen
with their irons off; but as the
Hindoos had been seen in the same condition a
day or two before by one of Bristowe's
companions, the secret was preserved. The
guards, however, grew suspicious; but the
Englishmen, having bought a piece of lead in
the bazaar, filled up the holes in their rivets
so as to elude all but the keenest eyes. The
25th of November was the day fixed for
the grand attempt, but to their great
mortification they then found the breach still
impracticable, so they had to stow away the
earth in jars and hang a large blanket
before the hole when day appeared.
Bristowe worked all the next day, keeping the
hole full of water, and putting wet cloths
to the part where the breach had to be
widened; his fellow-prisoners all the time
singing and shouting to drown the noise of
the work.

The next night, when all was ready,
notice was given to the other room, and
the seven men belonging to it joined
Bristowe and the rest before eleven o'clock.
The guards were gambling. Exactly at
twelve o'clock, Bristowe, who was chosen
leader and guide, crept out of the breach
with a large knife in one hand and a
stout stick in the other; he soon found
that the hole was not large enough; and
he had, at great risk, to enlarge it with
his knife from the outside. Then, in
silence, Bristowe led his companions over
the mud wall eight feet high which
surrounded the area of the prison. They had
next to pass a Native guard and some
prisoners, and to traverse one hundred
and fifty paces until they reached the outer