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90 the chiefs he had won over. The two armies joining, then made for the part of the field in which Nádir Jang was to be found. That prince, relying upon his dispatch to Dupleix, had not, at the first alarm, believed in the reality of the attack. When the fact could be no longer doubted, he took his station in the part of the field where his guns were posted, seated on his elephant. Near him, seated also on an elephant, but attended by an executioner who had orders to behead him on the first symptom of treason, was his nephew, Muzaffar Jang. Suddenly he noticed a falling back of his immediate troops, accompanied by a great commotion. He inquired the cause, and realising that some of his nobles had turned against him, he made a sign to the executioner to slay his victim. The man delayed; and, at the moment, the Nuwáb of Cuddapah, one of the leading rebels, approached the Subáhdár, shot him through the heart, and, having ordered an attendant to cut off his head, placed it at the foot of Muzaffar Jang.

For that prince, the protégé of Dupleix, the friend of Chandá Sáhib, there was thus an instant transition from a prison to a throne. He was at once recognised as Subáhdár of the Deccan. There was not a man in the army of his uncle who did not at once transfer to him his allegiance. Bussy, who had been sent by De la Touche to convey his congratulations, found the recent prisoner sitting in state surrounded by his nobles. When, the same evening, De la Touche paid his respects in person, Muzaffar Jang announced to