1 58 holkur's flight to lahor. a. d. 1803-6.
2 from the east, pursued by the British army under Lord
3 Lake. Futeh Singh Aloowala was accordingly
4 left to make arrangements with the chiefs of the west,
5 and RuNJEET hasteningback in person to Umritsur, met
6 there the fugitive Muiiratta, with whom he had no easy
7 part to play. Juswunt Rao threatened to continue
8 his flight westward towards the Kabool dominions.
9 Lord Lake however had arrived on the Beah or Beas,
10 and was prepared to follow, and it was neither convenient
11 nor wise to permit operations of the kind that must
12 ensue, to be carried on in the Punjab. On the other hand
13 Runjeet Singh, though he would have proved an use-
14 ful auxiliary to either party, was sensible of his inability
15 to offer open resistance. In this state of things the rela-
16 tions he maintained with Juswunt Rao Holkur were
17 friendly, but not encouraging, and that chief being disap-
18 pointed in the hope of raising the Sikh nation to a
19 co-operation in hostility with him against the British,
20 yielded to the difficulties by which he was surrounded,
21 and made his terms with Lord Lake in a treaty conclud-
22 ed on the 24th December 1805. Friendly engagements
23 were further exchanged by the British Commander with
24 Runjeet Singh, and the Aloowala Sirdar ; and in the
25 course of January 180G the two armies, which had inspired
26 so much alarm in the Punjab, returned to Ilindoostan,
27 leaving the Sikh chiefs to celebrate the Hoolee unembar-
28 rassed by their presence, and with joy and rejoicings
29 commensurate to the fears they had entertained. Runj eet
30 Singh's excesses at this festival produced a disease which
31 confined him for four months. Towards the end of the
32 rains, ho re-appeared in a new field, and entered on mei\-
33 sures which in their sequel had material influence on his
34 future destiny and fortunes.