When the khwāja came near Sīwī, Maḥmūd, the head-camel-driver, caught him, and asked: ‘Why are you here?’ ‘To buy horses and camels,’ he answered. Maḥmūd ordered: ‘Feel under his arm and search his cap. Heaven forbid that he should have brought a letter to win over Allāh-dost and Bābā Jūjūk.’ They searched, and brought out the letter from under his arm. He had no chance to twist it into a fold.* Maḥmūd took it and read it, and, not letting the khwāja go, forthwith conveyed Allāh-dost and Bābā Jūjūk into the fort, and with various rough­nesses made them swear: ‘We had no knowledge of his coming here.’ (54a) (?) He has taken the initiative;* and ‘Khwāja Ghāzī is related to us and he was with Mīrzā Kāmrān,* and this is why he has written.’ Maḥmūd decided to send all three to Shāh Ḥusain, and Mīr Allāh-dost and Bābā Jūjūk spent the whole night smoothing him down and entreating him, and in the end they were set free.

Mīr Allāh-dost sent 3,000* pomegranates and 100 quinces for his Majesty's use, and wrote no letter, because he was afraid it might fall into the wrong hands. By word of mouth he sent to say: ‘If a letter should come from Mīrzā Askarī or the amīrs, it would not be bad to go to Kābul;

>graphic<

THE EMPEROR AKBAR
('ARSH-ĀSHYĀNĪ).
[To face p. 164.

but if not, it will be clear to your Majesty that nothing is to be gained by going. You have few followers. What, then, will happen?’

Kasak came and reported this. The Emperor was stupefied and bewildered, and said: ‘What is to be done? Where am I to go?’ They all consulted together. (54b) Tardī Muḥammad Khān and Bairām Khān gave it as their opinion that it was impossible to decide to go anywhere but to the north and Shal-mastān,* the frontier of Qandahār. ‘There are many Afghans in those parts,’ they said, ‘whom we shall draw over to our side. Mīrzā 'Askarī's people, too, will join us.’

Having settled it in this way, they recited the fātiḥa and went, march by march, for Qandahār. Near Shal-mastān they halted in a village named Ranī (? Ralī), but as it had snowed and rained, and was extremely cold, they determined to go on to Shal-mastān. At afternoon prayer-time an Uzbeg youth, mounted on a sorry and tired-out pony, came in, and cried out: ‘Mount, your Majesty! I will explain on the way; time presses. There is no time to talk.’* The Emperor mounted the very hour the alarm was given, and went off.

He went two arrows' flight, and then sent Khwāja Mu'aam and Bairām Khān to fetch Ḥamīda-bānū Begam. (55a) They went and mounted her, but there was not a chink of time in which to take the Emperor Jalālu-d-dīn Muḥammad Akbar. Just when the begam left the camp to join his Majesty, Mīrzā 'Askarī came up with 2,000 troopers. There was an outcry, and when he heard it, he entered the camp* and asked: ‘Where is the Emperor?’ People said: ‘He went hunting long ago.’ So the mīrzā knew that his Majesty had gone away just as he himself came in. Then he took possession of the Emperor Jalālu­d-dīn Muḥammad Akbar, and gave him in charge to his wife Sulānam,* who showed him much kindness and affection. He made all the royal followers march, saying: ‘Go to Qandahār.’

His Majesty, when he left, took the road to the mountains. He went eight miles, and then travelled as fast as possible.* (55b) He had with him Bairām Khān, Khwāja Mu'aam, Khwāja Nīāzī, Nadīm kūka* and Raushan kūka, and Ḥājī Muḥammad Khān, and Bābā-dost the paymaster, and Mīrzā Qulī Beg chūlī,* and Ḥaidar Muḥammad the master of the horse, and Shaikh Yūsuf chūlī, and Ibrāhīm the chamber­lain, and Ḥasan 'Alī, the chamberlain, and Ya'qūb the keeper of the armoury, and 'Ambar the superintendent and the royal agent (mulk-mukhtār), and Sambal captain of a thousand, and Khwāja Kasak.*

Khwāja Ghāzī says:* ‘I also was in attendance.’ This company went with the Emperor, and Ḥamīda-bānū Begam says,* ‘There were as many as thirty people,’ and that of women there was, besides herself, the wife of Ḥasan 'Alī, the chamberlain.

The prayer before sleep had passed before they reached the foot of the mountains. The snow lay deep, so there was no road to go up by. Their minds were full of anxiety lest that unjust creature, Mīrzā 'Askarī, should follow them. At last they found a way up, and climbed it in some sort of fashion. They were all night in the snow, and (at first) there was neither wood for fire nor food to eat. They grew very hungry and feeble. (56a) The Emperor gave orders to kill a horse. There was no cooking-pot, so they boiled some of the flesh in a helmet, and some they roasted. They made fires on all four sides, and with his own blessed hand the Emperor roasted some meat which he ate. He used to say: ‘My very head was frozen by the intense cold.’

Morning came at last, and he pointed to another mountain, and said: ‘There are people on that; there will be many Bilūchīs there; and there we must go.’ On they went, and reached the place in two days. They saw a few houses near them, and a few savage Bilūchīs whose speech is the tongue of the ghouls of the waste.

The Emperor halted on the skirt of the mountain. There were about thirty people with him. The Bilūchīs saw him, and collected and came near. He had settled comfortably in his tent, so they knew from far off that he was halting. They said to one another: ‘If we seize these people and take them to Mīrzā 'Askarī, he will certainly give us their arms, and many gifts besides.’ (56b)

Ḥasan 'Alī, the chamberlain, had a Bilūchī wife who understood what the ghouls of the waste were saying, and who made it known that they meant mischief. Early in the morning the Emperor thought of marching on, but they said: ‘Our chief is not here. When he comes, you shall go.’ Besides this, the time had become unsuitable, and so the whole night was spent there in strict watch­fulness.

Part of the night had gone when the chief arrived. He waited on the Emperor, and said: ‘A farmān has come from Mīrzā Kāmrān and Mīrzā 'Askarī, in which it is written: “It is reported that the Emperor may visit your dwellings. If he does, beware!—a thousand times beware!— of letting him go. Seize him and bring him to us. You can keep his goods and horses. Take him to Qandahār.” As I had not seen your Majesty, I at first had this evil thought, but now I will sacrifice my life and the lives of my family, I have five or six sons, for your Majesty's head, or rather for one hair of it. (57a) Go where you wish. God protect you! Mīrzā 'Askarī may do what he likes.’ The Emperor gave him a ruby and a pearl and some other things.

At dawn he marched to honour Fort Bābā Ḥājī* by a visit. He reached it in two days. It belongs to the Garm-sīr, * and lies on the river (Halmand). There are many sayyids there, and they waited on the Emperor and showed him hospitality.

Next morning Khwāja 'Alāwalu-d-dīn (Jalālu-d-dīn) Maḥmūd,* having left Mīrzā 'Askarī, came with an offering of a string of mules, and one of horses and tents, etc., whatever he had. Once more the royal heart was at ease. Ḥājī Muḥammad Khān kūkī* brought thirty or forty troopers and offered a string of mules.

Being helpless because of the disunion of his brothers* and the desertion of his amīrs, it now seemed best to the Emperor,—with reliance on the Causer of causes,—to decide upon going to Khurāsān.* (57b)