1 26 SECRET HISTORY OF THE LAHORE DURBAR.
2 and he alone that could lull the old chief to sleep. An airing
3 could not be taken in the Royal Palkee without his being seated
4 in it too. In short when he was absent Runjeet became uneasy
5 peevish, and vexed, and only seemed anxious for his return. Five
6 hundred rupees, and sometimes more, were nightly laid beneath
7 his pillow by the old king's hand, to be distributed to the
8 poor by the young prince on the following morning. Of
9 this it is no exaggeration to say that ten rupees daily was
10 never known to be distributed m the way of alms, or for the
11 purpose originally contemplated. It might also be mentioned
12 here that at this period, by the express orders of Runjeet
13 and of Dehan Sing, Pundit Jellah acted as the tutor and guar-
14 dian of the young Rajah — his mother having died in 1832.
15 Rajah Dehan Sing had at all times full permission to enter
16 Runjeet's Zenankhana, and hence it was that the ma-
17 jority of his intrigues and schemes succeeded; the wo-
18 men there obeyed him, for they dreaded him far more than
19 they did even their own lord. Heera Sing was (it
20 might be said) a continual resident here — and though young
21 was well tutored how to act in any case or circum-
22 stance. Through him all the secrets of Runjeet Sing
23 became known to the minister and his party. They were
24 thus privy to every thing in and out of Court; nor could
25 any thing be done even in the most secret recesses of the
26 King's private chamber without their knowledge. Thus things
27 went on working in favor of the Dogra party, until
28 the old king was on his death bed. Then and only then
29 was Kurruck Sing, his son, called for into the presence of the
30 dying monarch, who, placing his hand in that of Dehan Sing,
31 gave over the charge of his son and heir, to his much esteemed
32 favorite and minister. He now enjoined Rajah Dehan Sing to
33 place Kurruck Sing on the throne, to act as his guardian and pro-
34 tector, to treat him in every way as the only son and heir of his
35 old master; and he told him that the only return he expected