1 56 HISTORY OF Til SIKIUS.
2 they seized my horses, plundered the baggage, and
3 separated many of the servants from me. I then
4 attempted to force a passage to Ferozpore ; spear-
5 men and matchlock men held me at bay in front,
6 others rushed on me from behind, I was knocked
7 down and stunned with blows on the head and
8 face, carried into a small fort and kept prisoner.
9 Soon after the people in the fort manned the walls
10 and prepared for a battle; this told me some of our
11 troops must be near at hand, but ere they arrived,
12 I was hurried out of the place, put on a horse be-
13 hind a Sikh trooper, and with a strong escort gal-
14 loped off some nine or ten miles. Judge my
15 horror when I saw before me the whole Sikh camp
16 and army! I was taken up and down their posi-
17 tion amidst excited crowds, who abused and poked
18 me right and left ; my gallant horsemen, however,
19 protected my life, but I saw with alarm a large
20 beam on two posts, bearing a most unpleasant re-
21 semblance to a gallows; multitudes were around
22 it, and I prepared for death, praying that I might
23 not be tortured, and die calmly. We passed this,
24 however, and at last reached Rajah Lall Singh’s
25 tent; Akalies going in and out, shook their swords
26 at me, and crowds thronged me; Lall Singh came
27 out and I addressed him, but he would not hear
28 me, ordering me to be put in irons and made over
29 to the commandant of artillery; thither I was
30 taken. The general spoke angrily and sent me away
31 to his men; I was then chained under a gun, and a
32 guard placed over me. Thus [ lay for three days