Page:Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.djvu/53

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SIYAR-UL-MUTAKHERIN.
37

enemy. As he was going to mount the elephant he usually rode, the animal refused to kneel in spite of the efforts of his driver to oblige him, and the king was induced to send for another. By this time even the few troops that had remained with him disappeared; and when he put his elephant in motion, he found about his person only Niamet-ullah-khan with ten troopers, Amin-ed-doulah-khan with twenty, and Raja Jye-sing with a little more than a thousand horsemen: the whole not amounting to two thousand men. Still he advanced to the field of battle; but hardly was the action commenced, when there arose such a violent wind, as put in motion all the sands of the Ravi, raising such clouds of dust, that no alternative was left, but that of shutting the eyes, and turning the head away from its violence; nor was it possible to open them but to see the flash of the enemy's cannon. Some troops of the enemy's cavalry having come up in the rear of Azim-ush-shan's party, let fly a shower of arrows; but, as there was no seeing Azim-ush-shan's person, the troops pushed forward to plunder his treasures. A moment after, a cannon-ball struck the seat of the elephant, and setting on fire the pillows, occasioned a great deal of smoke. The king, in order to save his life, threw all the furniture down; and Amin-ed-doula having asked whether he was not hurt, he answered, "Not at all: