1 MURDER OF JEWALLA SING, ETC. 69
2 citly relying on Goolaub's promises and acting on his advice.
3 Shere Sing-, meanwhile, was burning with rage on finding that
4 Chund Kour not only refused his hand and protection, but that,
5 as he was craftily persuaded by Dehan Sing, she scoffed at and
6 scorned his pretensions. He was told that she had declared that
7 he was either a fool or a madman to suppose that she, the daugh-
8 ter of the great Jeymull Sing, and of the famous house of the
9 Kunnias, would ever think of allying herself with Shere Sing,
10 the son of a washerman ! Shere Sing, however, hindered her
11 from living constantly in the city, and she was therefore com-
12 pelled to divide her time betwixt the city and the fort, occasion-
13 ally residing in the former, in the house of her late son. Thus
14 matters stood when Shere Sing, with his whole Durbar,
15 proceeded towards Wuzeerabad, on which occasion he left
16 secret but strict orders with the slave-girls of Chund Kour
17 to put her to death in his absence. To four of these slaves he
18 promised jaghires of five thousand rupees each, in case of their
19 fulfilling his commands ; and these women were thereby induced
20 to destroy their mistress by dashing out her brains with a heavy
21 stone while they were engaged in dressing her hair. After
22 committing this treacherous and cruel deed, the four slave-girls
23 were made prisoners by some hill-men in the service of Dehan
24 Sing, and Meean Sing, Shere Sing's thanadar in the fort, and
25 on Dehan Sing's return he ordered that the hands of two of
26 them should be cut off, one escaping- through the aid of a
27 faqueer, and the fourth being released in consideration of her
28 giving a large sum as the ransom of her life. The murder
29 was perpetrated in her house in the town, built by No Nihal Sing.
30 By the death of the unfortunate princess, Shere Sing consi-
31 dered himself released from apprehension of future claim on
32 his throne, but the event served the interests of Goolaub Sing
33 still more than those of him who had directly brought it about,
34 inasmuch as it gave him undisturbed possession of all the
35 property of the deceased Chund Kour.