CHAPTER III.
Tartar Chan was anxiously expecting a reply to his messenger from the Mogul Emperor. Famine was already raging within the walls of Gualior, and there was yet no prospect of relief. The lamentations of the sufferers were every moment becoming louder and more fearful. The Governor was taxed as the cause of all their misery in not having given up the fort to the Mogul general as originally stipulated. From reprehensions they proceeded to threats, and at length Tartar Chan began to fear for his personal safety. In his perplexity he sought Sheikh Mahomed, to ask his advice under circumstances of unusual difficulty.
“We had better die starving,” said the sage, “than capitulate to enemies who will visit us with an equally painful death. If we tamely submit to their yoke, we shall perish in ignominy; but if we die free within these walls, we shall at least expire with honour.”
“But disease and famine are raging in different quarters, and the enraged populace threaten my life.”
“I will go and appease them. There has been scarcely yet time for an answer to your embassy. I will persuade them to wait with patience another day or two, within which interval I have no doubt an answer will be returned. If favourable, we can have nocause for apprehension; if adverse, it will be then time enough to adopt desperate measures.”
Sheikh Mahomed went into the bazaar and harangued the inhabitants. He was revered by them as a prophet, and they listened to his voice as to a revelation from Heaven. They yielded to his entreaties, they hushed their cries, and consented to abide the issue of their governors message to the Mogul potentate.
That very night the watchword was heard at the gate; the messenger was admitted, and with him a party bearing a supply of provisions. They had evaded the enemy’s picket by a secret path unknown to the Hindoos. Twelve camels loaded with rice entered the fort amid the shouts of the starving garrison, and the welcome information came that an army was on its way to relieve them, and might be expected within twenty-four hours. This intelligence so gladdened the hearts of the despairing inhabitants, that instead of the wailings of despair, shouts of rejoicing were heard from every part of the fortress. The enemy knew not how to account for this sudden change. They had been made acquainted with the sufferings of the besieged, and were every moment expecting that the latter would capitulate without proposing terms, which the Hindoo general had determined to refuse. The conclusion they came to was, that it was a feint to throw them off their guard; but they treated with contempt the idea of a few starving soldiers attempting anything against a numerous army, provided with everything necessary, and commanded by a leader of reputation. They derided therefore the rejoicings of the besieged, and slumbered that night in perfect security.
On that very night, however, at the suggestion of Sheikh Mahomed, Tartar Chan determined upon making a sortie at the head of a chosen body of his bravest soldiers, now elated to the highest pitch of enthusiasm at so near a prospect of relief. Their enemies never for an instant imagined that such a measure would be resorted to, knowing how greatly the garrison was reduced by famine, and supposing, therefore, that the soldiers could not be in a condition to hazard a personal encounter with a vigorous and numerous body of troops. The night was dark, the wind gusty,which was rather favourable for such an enterprise as Tartar Chan contemplated, since the approach of his detachment to the hostile camp would be less likely to be detected before they should reach their destination. An hour past midnight was the period fixed, when it was imagined the Hindoo army would be the least apprehensive of an attack from a weakened and starving garrison.
The soldiers selected for the enterprise were assembled shortly after midnight, quitted the gates in silence, and marched stealthily towards the camp. As they approached they were hailed by the sentinel, who was instantly shot dead with an arrow. Proceeding noiselessly onward, the hail of a second sentinel was answered in a similar manner. No alarm was yet given. They were within a hundred yards of the enemy’s lines, when their approach was observed, and a shout raised. The Hindoo soldiers, starting from their sleep, issued from their tents, many of them unarmed, and others with only a dagger or a short sabre. The besieged rushed forward to the tents of the besiegers, creating a dreadful panic. They had divided into small bodies, and were known to each other by a long white floating streamer which each wore attached to the left side of his turban, and which there was sufficient light to distinguish.
The Hindoos soon assembled in such numbers that they incommoded each other, and thus the greatest confusion prevailed. They could not perceive their foes, who made a dreadful slaughter among them during the panic by which they were overcome. Seeing not whence the stroke of death came, they frequently mistook one another for enemies, and inflicted mutual destruction. The groans of the dying mingled with the shouts of the assailants in every part of the camp. The carnage was appalling. Several elephants, picketed within the lines, were let loose by the garrison, who pricked them with their spears until they became infuriated, and plunged among the tents, adding to the general consternation. Hundreds of persons were trodden to death by these affrighted creatures, which rushed onward with an impetuosity that nothing could resist. Morning dawned before the work of carnage had ceased, when Tartar Chan and his bold followers, satisfied at theirsuccess, returned to the fortress with the loss of only fifteen men.
On the following day shouts of triumph were heard from the walls of Gualior. A great number of oxen and sheep had been driven into the fort during the struggle of the preceding night, and a large quantity of rice secured. The inhabitants were now as much elated as they had before been depressed. The prospect of speedy relief from the Mogul army, and the present unlooked-for supply of provisions, stilled their murmurs; and the governor’s success in his late enterprise reconciled them to his former breach of faith with a generous ally. Those houses in which famine had already begun to deposit her prey, were cleared of their dead, fumigated, and the enlivening hopes produced by such a sudden reverse of fortune, so neutralised the effects of disease, that many who were sick arose from their beds and were restored to comparative health within a few hours.
Tartar Chan already began to repent that he had sought the assistance of the Moguls. Seeing how easily he had made an impression upon the hostile forces, he was disposed to think that by judicious night attacks he might with his own forces oblige them to raise the siege; but he did not calculate the difference between an enemy prepared and an enemy off their guard. Another such an enterprise must have failed. Tartar Chan, though a brave, was a vain and stubborn man, full of ambition and without integrity. He could not bear to think of giving up the fortress to his allies, and holding it in fealty under a prince who was not in the habit of allowing his vassals or feudatories the privilege of independence. He had been relieved from present embarrassment, and his pretensions rose in proportion. It was a hard thing to relinquish authority which he had struggled so hard to maintain, or at least to have it abridged by the influence of greater.
There was one difficulty: he knew it to be the prevailing feeling of the garrison, that in case the enemy were obliged to raise the siege by the Mogul army, the fortress should be put into the immediate possession of their general. Babur’s government was popular, and he was dreaded by all the neighbouring potentates.His renown as a warrior filled the nations with awe. His alliance was a blessing—his hostility a bane. The governor of Gwalior sought Sheikh Mahomed, as usual, in his difficulties.
“Well, Sheikh,” said he, “I think we have been rash in so hastily soliciting aid when we might have accomplished with our own arms what we seek for from those of our allies.”
“Then why have you not done it? You grow presumptuous from temporary good fortune; but, rely upon it, if you do not take heed, the success of a moment will act as a spark upon gunpowder, and produce an explosion that shall spread ruin around you. An act of bad faith can find no excuse; it seldom remains unpunished sooner or later. Take my word for it, that without speedy aid from the Moguls you must fall under the domination of Hindoos, who towards Mahomedans, are the worst of tyrants.”
“But what is life worth if we are obliged to give up all that renders it desirable! I must relinquish my government, and I would rather die than do that.”
“You should have come to this conclusion before you despatched a messenger for assistance in your extremity. You are bound by solemn engagements, and it is too late to retract. Besides, your personal advantages should weigh but as a feather against the general interest. The lives of those you govern are dear to them, so are their liberties; and you can have no moral right to put these in jeopardy; for as sure as to-morrow’s sun shall rise, if you attempt to break your faith a second time with those who are coming to your relief, your ruin will be the consequence, and you will perhaps involve many innocent persons in your own destruction. I have spoken boldly. You know that I am not one to fix my opinions rashly; when once fixed, therefore, they are not readily diverted. Act the part of a just man, as you did last night that of a brave one, and you may look confidently for your reward; but, I repeat it, a second breach of faith will terminate in your doom.”
The governor was exceedingly mortified at the result of this interview. Sheikh Mahomed was too much respected by the garrison to render it safe to treat him with indignity; Tartar Chantherefore quitted his presence with angry feelings which he did not think it prudent to express. He resolved, however, not to be guided by the counsel of the sage, notwithstanding the celebrity he had obtained for his gift of foreknowledge. No man, he argued, is infallible, and the Sheikh may happen to be wrong for once; at least the governor was determined to think so, and to act upon this rash assumption, in spite of consequences.
Having sounded several of his officers, he found two or three among them who readily concurred in his views, though the majority were decidedly opposed to them. Making therefore his determination known but to those on whose fidelity he thought he could rely, he awaited patiently the advance of the Mogul forces, whom he determined to render subservient to his purposes and then dismiss without reward. He had an idea that he could obviate any future molestation from the Hindoo arms by calling in the aid of some of his Afghan neighbours, who render their assistance with much humbler expectations than the Moguls. Under these impressions, and actuated by these sinister resolutions, he assembled his soldiers, and gave his orders how they were to act in concert with the Moguls, so soon as the latter should come to the relief of Gualior. He commanded a body of his bravest men to issue from the gate of the town, and, while the enemy were engaged with his allies, secure all the provisions they could find in the hostile camp. He gave the command of this detachment to a spirited officer, upon whom he could rely, and looked forward with confidence to success.
Sheikh Mahomed was not blind to what was passing in the governor’s mind; he knew his craft and resolved to counteract it. Affecting perfect confidence in Tartar Chan’s integrity, the latter was thrown off his guard, and his intentions made sufficiently evident to the sage to justify the plan he intended to pursue. Two days after the late nocturnal encounter with the enemy, the Mogul forces arrived to the relief of Gualior.
There was an evident bustle in the Hindoo camp. The advancing army was led by the chief who had so lately distinguished himself in the jungle by killing a rhinoceros. This feat of prowesshad reached the ears of the idolators, and they were prepared for a desperate conflict. Their forces outnumbered those of their enemies by several thousands, but they were greatly inferior in discipline; they had, however, among them a body of Rajpoots, which gave them confidence, as those troops have always been distinguished by their headlong and indomitable valour. The shouts of exultation from the town and fort were heard with feelings of deep vexation within the hostile lines; but there was no time for the encouragement of petty feelings with so formidable an enemy at their backs.
The Moguls pitched their camp almost in sight of the Hindoo army, and immediately advanced to the attack. Baba Shirzad, Mir Shah, and Dost Nasir, had severally commands under their brave chief, who took post in the centre.
Shortly after daybreak, the Mahomedans advanced in order of battle. The Hindoos were drawn out to receive them, their line extending to a great length, curving in the form of a crescent, as if to enclose their foes, whom they greatly outnumbered. The Rajpoots were placed in the centre, which was strengthened by the leader of the idolators with his best troops. The battle commenced with terrible impetuosity on the part of the Moguls, their charge being received by the foe with great steadiness. The Rajpoots bore the brunt of the shock, and the line did not waver. The Mogul leader fought with an energy that astonished his foes. He killed no less than six Rajpoots, to whom he had been opposed hand to hand. Still no sensible impression was made upon the Hindoo line.
The troops under command of Dost Nasir had been thrown into confusion by the severe charge of the enemy’s horse, a large and well appointed body. At this moment the horns of the crescent were seen gradually closing to encompass the Mahomedan army. Their leader, perceiving that the crisis had arrived, dashed his turban from his brow, and shaking his thick black locks over his shoulders, called aloud upon the Prophet, and with the cry of Allah Akbur, charged the centre of the enemy’s line with irresistible impetuosity. The shock immediately arrested the advanceof the wings. The line wavered, the Rajpoots could not stand against the impetuosity of the charge—they gave way—instant confusion followed. At this moment a body of Tartar Chan’s troops issued from the town, and attacking the foe in their rear, completed the rout; they fled on all sides, and abandoned their camp to the victors. The battle had been short but decisive. Immense quantities of provisions were found in the Hindoo camp, which were removed to the town and fort amid the acclamations of the inhabitants and of the garrison.
Tartar Chan immediately sent a messenger to acknowledge the timely assistance of the Moguls, but said not a word of putting Gualior into their possession.
The morning after the Hindoo general had raised the siege, the Mogul chief sent to Tartar Chan to demand a fulfilment of the conditions upon which he had repaired to the relief of Gualior. For a day or two, he was amused with frivolous excuses, and then a peremptory refusal was given to resign the town and fort into his possession.
Meanwhile Sheikh Mahomed, disgusted at the governor’s baseness, sent a private messenger to the Mogul general to say, that if he would trust himself singly within the fort, he would engage to find means of introducing his troops, and of shortly putting the town and fortress of Gualior into his hands. The Mogul accordingly affected to receive the refusal of Tartar Chan in a friendly manner, leading him to suppose that he was prepared to relinquish his claim; but represented to him that, as the enemy might muster in stronger force and return, it was desirable he should be allowed to bring his troops under the protection of the fortress. He further requested as an especial favour, that he might be permitted to visit the learned Sheikh Mahomed, of whose reputation he had heard so much, in order that he might tender him the homage of his admiration. Both these requests were acceded to without scruple; the governor having no suspicion that mischief could accrue from admitting a single warrior within the fort, so well guarded by the vigilance of a brave and active garrison.
During the Mogul’s visit to the sage, who had provided a liberalentertainment, to which several officers of the garrison were invited, he sent word to the governor from time to time, requesting permission for such and such officers to be admitted also, until at length Tartar Chan desired the commander of the guard to use his own discretion in admitting whom he chose, conceiving himself secure in his fidelity. That officer, being a disciple of the philosopher and privy to the plot, availed himself of this order to permit anybody the Mogul wished to pass in, till at length a considerable body of resolute warriors were within the wall before the entertainment was ended.[22]The fort thus fell easily into possession of the Moguls without bloodshed. The governor was summoned before their general.
“Traitor,” said the latter, “know that you stand in the presence of Babur Padshah, Emperor of the Moguls. Follow me to the ramparts!”
Having reached the battlements, accompanied by several of his own officers, the Emperor said, “What does your faithlessness deserve?”
“The pity of a conqueror,” replied Tartar Chan.
“Princes have a solemn duty to perform in ridding the world of those who deserve not to live. Your doom is sealed.” Saying which, Babur seized the trembling governor by the cummerbund, raised him from the ground as if he had been an infant, and flung him over the battlements.[23]
FOOTNOTES:[22]See Brigg’s Ferishta, vol. ii. p. 52.[23]Babur’s strength is said to have been prodigious; as a proof of which it is related, that “he used to leap from one pinnacle to another of the pinnated ramparts used in the East, in his double-soled boots, and that he even frequently took a man under each arm and went leaping along the rampart from one of the pointed pinnacles to another.”—See Memoirs of Babur, p. 430.
[22]See Brigg’s Ferishta, vol. ii. p. 52.
[22]See Brigg’s Ferishta, vol. ii. p. 52.
[23]Babur’s strength is said to have been prodigious; as a proof of which it is related, that “he used to leap from one pinnacle to another of the pinnated ramparts used in the East, in his double-soled boots, and that he even frequently took a man under each arm and went leaping along the rampart from one of the pointed pinnacles to another.”—See Memoirs of Babur, p. 430.
[23]Babur’s strength is said to have been prodigious; as a proof of which it is related, that “he used to leap from one pinnacle to another of the pinnated ramparts used in the East, in his double-soled boots, and that he even frequently took a man under each arm and went leaping along the rampart from one of the pointed pinnacles to another.”—See Memoirs of Babur, p. 430.