Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/51

Rh boasted that he had 30,000 adherents among the enemy, and the result showed at least that there were many half-hearted fighters in their ranks. The prophets were gloomy; no one presaged success for the Crown Prince; the temper of his troops was not that of men going to victory.

Heedless of these ominous forecasts, and full of the lust of personal éclat, such as he had sought and missed at Kandahár, Dárá led a splendid array to the encounter. On arriving at the Chambal, he found that Aurangzíb had given him the slip, and making a circuit had crossed the river on the 2nd of June, in spite of the imperial outposts. The two armies came in sight of each other on the 7th, at Samúgarh, afterwards known as Fathábád, 'The place of victory.' For a day or more they remained observing one another. The heat was such as is only known on the plains of India. It was a true Agra summer, and the men were fainting and dying in their heavy armour. During the pause, letters came from the Emperor, announcing the near approach of the Bengal army, and urging Dárá to wait for this reinforcement. His answer was characteristic: Before three days he would bring his brothers, bound hand and foot, to receive their father's judgment.

Early in the morning, or in Persian metaphor 'when the sun, the mighty monarch of the golden crown, with his world-conquering sword, rose brightly refulgent from his eastern bed, and the king of the starry host put his head out of the window of the