1 INTRODUCTION. XXIX
2 and when Ajeet Sing- took leave of me, not long- after this,
3 I am convinced lie had fully made up his mind to take
4 his " wild justice," as Lord Bacon calls it, for he observed,
5 " Lord Sahib lioocli liceah nuheen, lehin hum be kooch ltwringa"
6 " The Lord Sahib has done nothing, but I will do some-
7 thing" and had it not been for his too hasty proceeding1, he
8 would, in all probability, have been minister at Lahore ; but
9 though he had enough of the cunning, he had not the courage
10 of his uncle, Bhood Sing, to carry him through his daring-
11 intentions.* But the writer in Fraser's Magazine has fallen
12 into a third error, when stating*, " No Nehal Sing's death was
13 announced to the minister ;" for it so happened, it was the
14 minister who announced the young Maharajah's death to the
15 people ; he, and he only having witnessed the last moments
16 of his expiring Prince, refusing admittance even to his mo-
17 ther, and pushing aside Lena Sing Majeeteea, and some
18 others of the chief Sirdars who were anxious to see what
19 injury their sovereign had sustained. From that moment
20 every thing became a mystery, and the real cause of the
21 Maharajah's death was only known to the minister and his
22 Maker ; and scarcely was his death made known to the public
23 ere Sheer Sing arrived, post haste, at the capital, an express
24 having been sent off for him by Dehan Sing ; but the
25 Chief Sirdars declared they would not allow the son of a
26 Washerman to sit on the throne of Runjeet; and Chund
27 Kour claimed the rajh as her right according to the Seik
28 custom. I am not aware that No Nehal Sing's widow was
29 mentioned at the time, though she certainly was i enciente/f
30 * Runjeet himself, I have been informed, was even afraid of Bhood Sing, who was
31 not killed at Peshawar, as stated in the Calcutta Review, but died at Lahore, report
32 says, of the cholera morbus, though his family declare that he was poisoned by the
33 Dogra faction.
34 t It was reported to our Politicals that Chund Kour was the lady in this state, but
35 if so, what reason could there be for her concealing it '.' and why declare it was her
36 son's widow ? as the child of either would have been the heir of Kurruck Sing ; and
37 of course, Chund Kour's power would have been greater as mother than as grand-
38 mother ! ! !