Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/150

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HISTORY OF INDIA,

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A I). 1.-.40.

Siibsefiuont fortunes cpf HoomayoKii

He reaches Ameikote.

Slieer Khan seated on the throne of Dellii.

situation was now lio[)ele.ss; ami Ik; luil only time to itMiiovt; his fauiily and his treasure from Agra and Delhi, and liasten off with them to Laliore. Here his reception was not very gracious, as his brotiier Kamran feared he might prove a dangeroas competitor, and was also preparing to make Ills ])eace with .Sheer Khan, by ceding tlie Punjab to him.

Hof)mayoon, thus abandoned by liis brother, turned his thouglits to Scinde, and endeavoured, partly by {)ersuasion and j)ajtly by force, to obtain possession of it. He failed; and then tlirew himself on the protection of the Rajah of Marwar. To accomplisli this he was obliged to cross the de.sert, and even there had the mortification to perceive that the rajah was only meditating how he might best deliver him to his enemies. Flight into the desert was again his only resource. While wandering here, encumbered with the women of his family, a body of horse was seen approaching They were headed by the son of the Rajah of Marwar. Nothing short of death or captivity was foreboded ; but after a great show of hostility, the rajah's son apparently I'elented, furnished them with water, and allowed them to proceed The horrors of the desert were still before them ; and at last Hoomayoon, with only seven attendants, reached Amerkote. Here he was not only hospitably entertained, but furnished with the means of making a second attempt upon Scinde. It might have succeeded, but the rajah who accompanied him, indignant at obtaining no redress for an insult which he had received, suddenly withdi'ew with all his Hindoo followers. His position was now despei-ate, and he was only too glad to make an arrange- ment which permitted him to withdraw from Scinde and set out for Kandahar. This province belonged to Kamran, and was then held for him by one of his younger brothers. Hoomayoon, travelling with his wife and an infant child, afterwards the celebrated Emperor Akber, had arrived within 130 miles of his destination, when one of his old adherents rode hastily up, and gave him the startling intelligence that his brother Mirza Askari was at hand, with the intention of making him prisoner. He had only time to mount the queen behind him, and take to flight. The infant could not be thus carried, and fell, with his attendants, into the hands of his im^cle. Hoomayoon contiimed his flight with a few followers till he amved within the Pei-sian dcjminions. He was sent to Herat to await the shah's orders.

Sheer Khan, on Hoomayoon's flight, made a kind of trimnphant progress, and was soon in possession of all the territories which had acknowledged the authoi'ity of the King of Delhi. His reign, or usurpation as it is sometimes called, though his title was at least as good as Baber's, had been commenced in 1 540. During the three following years he made himself master of Malwah. Marwar, and Mewar, and was carrying on the siege of Callinjer, in loio, when he was killed by the explosion of a powder magazine. His eldest son, Adil Khan, had previously been recognized by him as his successor; but the feebleness of his character induced the chiefs to set him aside, and give the throiie to his