eight o'clock p.m.
`` In the midst of this hurry and confusion , as if purposely to add to it , a trumpet was heard at the gate of the fort , and one of the sentinels came running to me , saying that a Mahratta soldier was before the gate with a flag of truce ! `` I went down , rightly conjecturing , as it turned out , that the party , whoever they might be , had no artillery ; and received at the point of my sword a scroll of which the following is a translation . '' ` To Goliah Gahagan Gujputi . '' ` LORD OF ELEPHANTS , SIR , -- I have the honour to inform you that I arrived before this place at eight o'clock p.m. with ten thousand cavalry under my orders . I have burned , since my arrival , seventeen bungalows in Furruckabad and Futtyghur , and have likewise been under the painful necessity of putting to death three clergymen -LRB- mollahs -RRB- and seven English officers , whom I found in the village ; the women have been transferred to safe keeping in the harems of my officers and myself . '' ` As I know your courage and talents , I shall be very happy if you will surrender the fortress , and take service as a major-general -LRB- hookahbadar -RRB- in my army . Should my proposal not meet with your assent , I beg leave to state that to-morrow I shall storm the fort , and on taking it , shall put to death every male in the garrison , and every female above twenty years of age .