Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/192

186 the fortress, and raised a shout of triumph. 'Abd-ar-Razzák heard it, and leaping on a barebacked horse, followed by a dozen retainers, galloped to the gate, through which the enemy were rushing in. He threw himself alone into their midst, crying that he would die for Abu-l-Hasan. Covered with blood and reeling in his saddle, he fought his way out, and they found him next day lying senseless under a cocoa-nut tree, with more than seventy wounds.

Meanwhile the King had heard the shouts and groans, and know that the hour was come. He went into the harím and tried to comfort the women, and then asking their pardon for his faults he bade them farewell, and taking his seat in the audience chamber, waited calmly for his unbidden guests. He would not suffer his dinner hour to be postponed for such a trifle as the Mughal triumph. When the officers of Aurangzíb appeared, he saluted them as became a King, received them courteously, and spoke to them in choice Persian. He then called for his horse and rode with them to Prince A'zam, who presented him to Aurangzíb. The Great Mogul treated him with grave courtesy, as King to King, for the gallantry of his defence of Golkonda atoned for many sins of his licentious past. Then he was sent a prisoner to Daulatábád, where his brother of Bíjápúr was already a captive, and both their dynasties disappear from history. Aurangzíb appropriated some seven millions sterling from the royal property of Golkonda.

The hero of the siege was 'Abd-ar-Razzák. Au-