1 150 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 Had the Sindhanwalias been able to include Hira
3 Singh in their list of victims, their cause might have
4 triumphed ; for the soldiers of the Khalsa, without
5 the support of which success was impossible, were
6 not inclined to mourn the loss of Sher Singh, still
7 less that of his Rajput minister, and would have
8 preferred to sell their services to Ajit Singh rather
9 than to the representative of the Jammu faction.
10 But- at this critical juncture Hira Singh displayed
11 all his father's cunning and energy. The moment
12 the news of the murders reached him, he assembled
13 his troops, and in a passionate address called upon
14 them to avenge the deaths of their king and his own
15 father. The Sindhanwalias, he told them, were
16 intriguing with the British for the dismemberment
17 of the Khalsa, and soon they themselves would be
18 forced to give up their arms and " to seek an ignoble
19 maintenance from the plough." These well -chosen
20 words, coupled with large promises of increased pay,
21 completely won over his hearers. They responded in
22 a body to his call, and announced their readiness to
23 follow wherever he chose to lead them.
24 Three days after the murders were committed, the
25 Sindhanwalias were besieged in the old fort in which,
26 on the news of Hira Singh's approach, they had shut
27 themselves up with about a thousand followers. On
28 the 20th of September the fort was breached, and the
29 besiegers, who had been promised the plunder of the
30 citadel as the reward of success, rushed madly in to
31 seize their prey. The garrison made a stout resist-
32 ance, but the odds against them were overwhelming,
33 and they were practically annihilated, Ajit Singh and