Sheikh Bayezīd, who was in Akhsi, now made a show of
being devoted to my interests, and sent a confidential
messenger earnestly inviting me to repair to that city.
The motive of this invitation was a wish to detach me, by
any device, from the Khans, being persuaded that after
I left them they could no longer maintain themselves in
the country. It was done by him on an understanding with
his elder brother Tambol. But to separate myself from the
Khans, and to unite myself with them, was a thing to me
altogether impossible. I let the Khans understand the
invitation I had received. The Khans advised me by all
means to go, and to seize Sheikh Bayezīd one way or
another; but such artifice and underhand dealing were
totally abhorrent from my habits and disposition, especially
as there must have been a treaty, and I never could bring
myself to violate my faith. But I was anxious by one
method or another to get into Akhsi, that Sheikh Bayezīd
might be detached from his brother Tambol, and unite
with me, till some plan should offer, of which I could avail
myself with honour. I therefore sent a person to Akhsi,
who concluded an agreement with him, when he invited
Bābur re-
pairs thi-
ther.
me to the place, and I accordingly went. He came out to
meet me, bringing my youngest brother Nāsir Mirza along
with him, and conducted me into the fort,*
where he left me.
I alighted at the apartments which had been prepared for
me in my father’s palace in the stone fort.*
Tambol had sent his elder brother, Beg Tīlbeh, to Sheibāni
Khan, proffering him his allegiance, and summoning him
to his assistance. At this very time he received letters from
Sheibāni Khan, by which he was informed that the Khan
The two
Khans re-
tire by Kho-
jend.
was about to come to join him. As soon as the Khans
received this intelligence they were disconcerted and broke
up from before Andejān in great alarm. The Little Khan
himself had a high character for justice and piety; but the
Moghuls whom he had left in Ush, in Marghinān, and the
other fortresses of which I had gained possession, instead
of protecting, had set about oppressing and tyrannizing over
the inhabitants. As soon, therefore, as the Khans raised
the siege of Andejān, the men of Ush, Marghinān, and the
other fortresses, rose on the Moghuls who were in garrison,
seized and plundered them, and drove them out of the towns.
The Khans did not immediately cross the river of Khojend,
but retreated by way of Marghinān and Kandbādām,
and passed the river at Khojend. Tambol followed them
as far as Marghinān. I was now greatly distracted; I had
no great confidence in their adhering staunchly to me, but
I did not like to fly off from them without evident necessity.
One morning Jehāngīr Mirza came and joined me, having
fled from Tambol, whom he had left at Marghinān. I was
in the bath when the Mirza arrived, but immediately
received and embraced him. At this time Sheikh Bayezīd
was in great perturbation, quite unsettled what line of
conduct to pursue. The Mirza and Ibrahīm Beg insisted
that it was necessary to seize him, and to take possession
of the citadel. In truth the proposition was a judicious one.
I answered, ‘I have made an agreement, and how can I
violate it?’ Sheikh Bayezīd meanwhile entered the citadel.
We ought to have placed a guard at the bridge, yet we did
not station a single man to defend it. These blunders were
Tambol
arrives at
Akhsi.
the effects of our inexperience. Before the dawn, Tambol
arrived with two or three thousand mailed warriors, passed
by the bridge, and entered the citadel. I had but very few
men with me from the first, and after I came to Akhsi I had
dispatched many of them on different services; some to
garrison forts, others to take charge of districts, and others
to collect the revenue, so that, at this crisis, I had not with
me in Akhsi many more than a hundred. However, having
taken to horse with those that remained, I was busy posting
them in the entrances to the different streets, and in
preparing supplies of warlike stores for their use,*
when
Sheikh Bayezīd, Kamber Ali, and Muhammed Dost, came
galloping from Tambol to propose a pacification. Having
ordered such of my men as had stations assigned them to
remain steadily at their posts, I went and alighted at my
father’s tomb, to hold a conference with them. I also sent
to call Jehāngīr Mirza to the meeting. Muhammed Dost
returned back, while Sheikh Bayezīd and Kamber Ali
remained with me. We were sitting in the southern portico
Jehāngīr
Mirza
seizes
Sheikh
Bayezīd.
of the Mausoleum, engaged in conversation, when Jehāngīr
Mirza and Ibrahīm Chāpuk, after consulting together, had
come to a resolution to seize them. Jehāngīr Mirza whispered
in my ear, ‘It is necessary to seize them.’ I answered
him, ‘Do nothing in a hurry: the time for seizing them
is gone by. Let us try if we can get anything by negotiation,
which is much more feasible, for at present they are very
numerous, and we are extremely few: besides, their superior
force is in possession of the citadel, while our inconsiderable
strength only occupies the outer fort.’ Sheikh Bayezīd
and Kamber Ali were present while this passed. Jehāngīr
Mirza, looking towards Ibrahīm Chāpuk, made a sign to him
to desist. I know not whether he misunderstood it, or
whether from perversity he acted knowingly; however that
may be, he seized Sheikh Bayezīd. The men who were
around closed in on every side, and, in an instant, dragged
away and rifled these two noblemen. There was now an
end of all treaty. We, therefore, delivered them both into
custody and mounted for battle.
I entrusted one side of the town to Jehāngīr Mirza; as the
Mirza’s followers were very few in number I attached some
of my own to him. I first of all went and put his quarter of
the town in order, visiting all the posts and assigning each
man his station; after which I proceeded to the other
quarters.*
In the midst of the town there was an open
level green, in which I had posted a body of my men, and
passed on. They were soon attacked by a much superior
number of horse and foot, who drove them from their
ground and forced them into a narrow lane. At this instant
I arrived, and immediately pushed on my horse to the
charge. The enemy did not maintain their ground, but fled.
We had driven them out of the narrow lane and were pushing
them over the green, sword in hand, when my horse was
wounded in the leg by an arrow. He bolted, and springing
aside, threw me on the ground in the midst of the enemy.
I started up instantly and discharged one arrow. Kāhil,
one of my attendants, who was on a sorry sort of steed,
dismounted and presented it to me. I got on it, and having
posted a party there, proceeded to the foot of another street.
Sultan Muhammed Weis, observing what a bad horse I had
got, dismounted and gave me his own, which I mounted.
At this very instant Kamber Ali Beg, the son of Kāsim
Beg, came to me wounded, from Jehāngīr Mirza, with notice
that Jehāngīr Mirza had been attacked for some time past
in such force that he was reduced to the last extremity, and
had been compelled to retreat out of the town and take to
flight. While still disconcerted by this accident, Syed
Kāsim, who had held the fort of Pāp, arrived. This was
a strangely unseasonable time for coming; for, at such an
extremity, had I retained possession of a fortress of such
strength as Pāp, there had still been some resource. I said
to Ibrahīm Beg, ‘What is to be done now?’ He was a little
wounded, and I know not whether it was from the irritation
of his wound, or from his heart failing him, but he did not
Retreats to-
wards the
gate;
give me a very distinct answer. An idea struck me, which
was to retreat by the bridge, and breaking it down behind
us, to advance towards Andejān. Baba Sherzād behaved
extremely well in this exigency. He said, ‘Let us attack and
force a passage through this nearest gateway.’ According
to this suggestion we proceeded towards the gate. Khwājeh
Mīr Mirān also spoke and comported himself in a manly
manner, in this extremity. While we were entering the
street, Syed Kāsim and Dost Nāsir, with Bāki Khīz, maintained
the action, and covered our retreat; I and Ibrahīm
Beg, and Mirza Kuli Gokultāsh, had rode on before them.
We had no sooner come opposite the gate than we saw
Sheikh Bayezīd, with a quilted corslet over his vest, who
just then entered the gateway with three or four horsemen,
and was proceeding into the town. In the morning, when,
contrary to my wish, he was seized along with those who
were with him, they had been left with Jehāngīr’s men,
who, when forced to retreat, carried off Sheikh Bayezīd with
them. They once thought of putting him to death, but
fortunately they did not, but set him at liberty. He had
just been released, and was entering the gate when I met
him. I immediately drew to the head the arrow which was
on my notch, and discharged it full at him. It only grazed
his neck, but it was a fine shot. The moment he had
entered the gate he turned short to the right, and fled by
a narrow street in great perturbation. I pursued him.
Mirza Kuli Gokultāsh struck down one foot-soldier with
his mace, and had passed another, when the fellow aimed an
arrow at Ibrahīm Beg, who startled him by exclaiming, ‘hāī!
hāī!’ and went forward; after which the man, being about
as far off as the porch of a house is from the hall, let fly at
me an arrow, which struck me under the arm. I had on
a Kalmuk mail; two plates of it were pierced and broken
from the blow. After shooting the arrow he fled, and
I discharged an arrow after him. At that very moment
a foot-soldier happened to be flying along the rampart, and
my arrow pinned his cap to the wall, where it remained
shot through and through and dangling from the parapet.
He took his turban, which he twisted round his arm, and ran
away. A man on horseback passed close by me, fleeing up
the narrow lane by which Sheikh Bayezīd had escaped.
I struck him such a blow on the temples with the point of
my sword that he bent over as if ready to fall from his horse,
but supporting himself on the wall of the lane he did not lose
his seat, but escaped with the utmost hazard. Having
dispersed all the horse and foot that were at the gate we
which he
gains,
took possession of it. There was now no reasonable chance
of success; for they had two or three thousand well-armed
men in the citadel, while I had only a hundred, or two
hundred at most, in the outer stone fort: and, besides,
Jehāngīr Mirza, about as long before as milk takes to boil,
had been beaten and driven out, and half of my men were
with him. In spite of all this, such was my inexperience
that, posting myself in the gateway, I dispatched a man
to Jehāngīr Mirza to request him to join me if he was near,
and that we might make another effort. But, in truth, the
business was over. Whether it was that Ibrahīm Beg’s
horse was really weak, or whether the Beg was fretful from
his wound, I cannot tell; but he said to me, ‘My horse is
useless.’ Immediately, Sulemān, a servant of Muhammed
Ali Mubashar, dismounted and gave him his horse of his own
accord, without anybody suggesting such a thing to him.
It was a fine trait of character in the man. While we
remained waiting at the gate, Kūchik Ali, who is now
collector*
of Koel, displayed great bravery. He was then
in the service of Sultan Muhammed Weis. He, on another
occasion, performed good service at Ush. We continued at
the gate, waiting for the return of the messenger whom I had
sent to call the Mirza. He did return, and informed us that
Jehāngīr Mirza had already been gone some time in his
and
retreats.
retreat. It was no longer a season to tarry, and we also
set off. Indeed, my halting so long was very ill advised.
Not above twenty or thirty men now remained with me.
The moment we moved off in our retreat a great band of the
enemy’s troops came smartly after us. We had just passed
the drawbridge when they reached the town side of it.
Bandeh Ali Beg, the son of Kāsim Beg, who was the maternal
grandfather of Hamzah Beg, called aloud to Ibrahīm Beg,
‘You are always boasting and bragging: stop and let us exchange
a few sword-cuts.’ Ibrahīm Beg, who was close by
me, answered, ‘Come away, then: What hinders us?’ The
senseless madcaps! in such a moment of peril and discomfiture,
to think of adjusting their rival claims. It was no
time for a trial of skill, nor for delay nor loss of time. We
retreated with all speed, the enemy being in full pursuit of us.
They brought down man after man as they overtook us.