extent, exercised them in the use of arms, organised then into troops and bands, and built forts along the skirt of the hills between the Jumna and the Sutlej where their retreats lay. At the end of the century he felt his power equal to the hazard of a rebellion against the Imperial Government. He routed the hill rajas who opposed him, and defeated the Moghul troops sent to aid them, but the Emperor, roused to greater action, sent a powerful army, which eventually scattered the Sikhs for a time. His mother with his two youngest sons, mere boys, escaped to Sirhind, where they fell into the hands of the Mahomedan governor. One day as they were sitting in his durbar he kindly said to them, "Boys, what would you do if I gave you your liberty?" The boys answered, "We would collect our Sikhs, tight with you, and put you to death." The Governor said, "If you were defeated in the fight, what would you do then?" to which they replied, "We would collect
