1 338 THE LORDS OF THE HILLS ;
2 services were no further required, and tliat lie might, with his fol-
3 lowers, return to his home. However all the hints the Emperor's
4 officer could give were of no avail, as Rajah Beeram Dehu
5 seemingly had some higher schemes in view ; and all that the
6 officer could do was to induce him to send back the greater part
7 of his half-naked followers, whom he was told would make but a
8 poor show at the Emperor's court. Thus with about twenty-five
9 followers, Rajah Beeram Dehu kept close to his charge of some
10 fifteen dallies or loads of fruit, and with them he entered Delhi,
11 where he was by the officer, his travelling companion, ultimately
12 introduced to the court and presence of the Emperor. Beeram
13 Dehu expected to meet somebody of but little higher rank
14 and power than himself, and kept up his spirits on his long-
15 march with the idea that he was going to meet a kind of half
16 brother, a Rajah something like himself ; — that he would be re-
17 ceived with open arms and be treated in every manner as an equal.
18 Great, therefore, was his disappointment and chagrin on finding
19 himself coolly received by the Emperor, who seeing the Hill-man
20 and his train, all dressed much alike (some half naked, with
21 only coarse dirty leather breeches) and the chief with but little
22 to distinguish him from his followers, considered him and them
23 entitled to but scant courtesy. Beeram Dehu did not let slip
24 the opportunity of letting the proud] Baber know, what he
25 most likely never before suspected, that he too was a Rajah ;
26 and as a proof of his assertion he recounted many feats of him-
27 self and his predecessors, spoke much of his high rank, fame,
28 and caste, and ultimately had the good fortune to receive a
29 written acknowledgment of his dignity from the Emperor, who
30 now humorously styled him Rajah. The Hill chief was so per-
31 fectly satisfied with this, that he asked no more, and considering
32 that he had attained the pinnacle of his ambition, he, with further
33 promises from Baber, in case of good behaviour towards the
34 lowlands of the Punjaub, in a few days left Delhi and the