1 ASSASSINATION OF SHERE SING AND DEHAN SING. 71
2 the order for their recall, accompanied by private assurances
3 of safety from Bii Ram Sing-, Ajeet Sing and Lena Sing*
4 returned to Lahore, but Uttur Sing* went at once to his
5 jag-hire. On the arrival of the Scindawallas at Lahore,
6 Bii Ram Sing became the medium of private communication
7 betwixt them and Rajah Dehan Sing. The Minister endea-
8 voured, successfully, to impress upon them a belief, that it was
9 by his means and influence they were recalled and restored
10 to the possession of their former jaghires and lands. He showed
11 them the utmost confidence and consideration, and acted his
12 part so well with them that they became the staunchest friends
13 of him and his party, and ready to become, as he intended they
14 should be, the tools and instruments of his plan. Further, he
15 represented to them, in glowing- colours, the baseness of Shere
16 Sing, who, he said, however kind he might outwardly appear to
17 them, was at heart their implacable enemy, and would, were
18 it not for his, Dehan Sing's, presence and influence, exhibit
19 his hatred towards them in ill usage. Thus were the Scinda-
20 wallas prepared to execute the Minister's purpose. These
21 private intrigues were carried on for some time, and the Scinda-
22 wallas were enabled plainly to see into the real state of affairs,
23 and to perceive the rancorous enmity that existed betwixt
24 Shere Sing and his Minister, and the danger to which the
25 Maharajh was exposed.
26 It was shortly after Goolaub Sing's hasty visit to Lahore,
27 and the consultation betwixt the brothers, that Dehan Sing-
28 appeared to become aware that there was in existence a reputed
29 sides this, as has been before said, Bii Ram Sing envied and hated Bii Goormuck Sing
30 as a successful rival in the favour of the sovereign, and had thus a purely personal
31 motive to join in any plan that might lead to his downfal. He likewise
32 indulged a deep hate against the Maharajh for exhibiting a preference for his rival;
33 and this was a direct reason for his allying himself with Shere Sing's enemies,
34 He, then, at the instigation of the Dogras, in his character of a holy man.
35 prevailed on the favourite women of Shere Sing to beg an order for the recall of
36 the Scindawallas.