Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/65

Book I. into the palace. He was attended by all the other guests, and many of his own officers and guards. The thirteen Pitans, who had made their submission in the morning, appeared the foremost of the spectators in the court below, and distinguished themselves by the affectation of great reverence in their manner of saluting Seid Mahomed Khan, as soon as he appeared in the vestibule. After these compliments, their captain, with the appearance of a man sensible that he had offended his lord, and intended to submit himself at his feet, ascended the steps, and was permitted to approach within the reach of his person; when the assassin drew a dagger, and at the first blow stabbed him to the heart.

A thousand swords and poignards were drawn in an instant: the murderer was cut to pieces on the very spot; and ten of his accomplices suffered the same fate from the fury of the multitude below. During this scene of bloodshed, An'war-odean Khan arrived, and endeavoured to calm the general trepidation, by giving such orders as were necessary for the discovery of the conspirators; for the multitude had already persuaded themselves that the Pitans had been employed by some superior power. All who beheld the young prince deprived of life by this assassination, were instantly struck with the remembrance of the murder of his father committed in Velore; murmurs from many had already declared the suspicions that were entertained of Mortiz-ally, when it was reported, that, during the general confusion, he had gained the gates of the fort, where a large body of cavalry and other troops, which composed his retinue, were waiting for him; and that, surrounded by these guards, he was already on his way to Velore. The precipitation of this flight, which appeared as much the consequence of previous dispositions as the effect of sudden fear, left no doubt that he was the author of the assassination. Nothing was now heard but curses and imprecations on his head, for the murder of the innocent and much-loved Seid Mahomed Khan, and for the murder of the father of this unfortunate prince. The people saw themselves obliged to confine their indignation to these expressions of it; for the strength of Mortiz-ally's escort required a larger body of cavalry