1 close to the same spot where Runjeet Sing was burnt, and nearly
2 with the same rites. The court afterwards went on foot to the
3 river, to perform their ablutions, according to the custom of
4 the country, whilst I returned to my above-mentioned patient.
5 Scarcely had I arrived, when I was told that I had been called
6 for, and invited by the minister to attend immediately at the
7 fortress garden (hazooree-bagh). I did not lose one moment, but
8 repaired to that place, and found the minister waiting for me,
9 who, as soon as he descried me, came, and seizing my hand, told
10 me it was all over with Meean Oottum Sing. My surprise was
11 increased, upon hearing that a piece of the wall falling upon
12 him and the royal prince, No-Nehal, had crushed them beneath
13 its fragments. Oottum Sing was killed instantly, and the royal
14 prince considerably hurt. The minister conducted me to a tent,
15 where I saw the prince ; but he (the minister) enjoined me, in
16 the most energetic manner, not to speak about that event to any
17 one. The prince was on his bed, his head most awfully crushed,
18 and his state was such that no hope of his recovery existed.
19 With that conviction I left the tent, and whispered to the
20 minister, in so low a tone that no one else could hear it,
21 “ Medical art can do nothing to relieve the unfortunate prince
22 upon which, the minister requested me to wait there while he
23 re-entered the tent, and, after a short stay therein, he came out,
24 addressing me loud enough to be heard by all the assembly, who
25 listened attentively, asking “ whether they might give some soup
26 to the Koonwar Saheb (royal prince), he wishing to have some.'”
27 Whereupon I answered, “ Of course ; he is in need only of
28 parsley — a proverb applied to those dangerously ill, and not
29 expected to live. The minister's intention in questioning me
30 thus, was to conceal at that moment the approaching death of
31 the prince, in order to have time to make the necessary pre-
32 parations, so that the peace and tranquillity of the country might
33 not be disturbed, in which he succeeded so that the death of the
34 prince remained a secret for three days. This interval he took
35 advantage of to recall Sheer Sing, Runjeet Sing's adopted son,
36 and to place him upon the throne. In the meanwhile, the