One shell and one carcass were fired, neither of which
went halfway, by reason of the mortars being so faultily constructed that
the chambers could not contain a sufficient charge of powder. 'This
misfortune set the people a-grumbling.'
On the 21st, Brown held a consultation of his officers, and proposed to
land three hundred men, at night, a mile from the town, so as to surprise
it at daylight. The officers protested against the scheme; they justly
remarked that it would be folly to make such an attack before the arrival
of the whole force. The _Phram_ and the _Chandos_, with the platoons of
Europeans, were still to come. They represented that the garrison of the
fort alone was a thousand strong, to say nothing of the small walled town
which must be taken before the fort could be attacked. Such a proposal was
not likely to increase their confidence in Brown. Sickness had already set
in among the troops, and that evening Captain Jeremiah Easthope died of
fever. Brown was all for immediate action, without having any definite
plan.
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