Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/207

 succeeded in pushing on the parallels to the edge of the ditch." As soon as they had obtained a foothold in this position batteries were thrown up close to the wall, and attempts were made to fill the ditch with large sandbags. A constant cannonade was kept up by the advanced batteries, and at length the wall was breached. But meanwhile the Marathas and the field army of Abul Hasan, some of whom still remained faithful, had done their work so well that there was a famine in the imperial camp. The satirist Ni'mat Khan-i-Ali gives an amusing description of the wretched plight of the besieging army. The rains again failed and the Deccan produced no crops. In addition to this calamity a pestilence, probably cholera, broke out in the imperial camp, and numbers died daily from famine and disease.

The tide of desertion now ebbed. Many deserted to Abul Hasan, and many more who had not the courage openly to desert, but who heartily wished for an end to the apparently interminable siege, rendered the besieged what assistance they could. We do not read that any of the deserters from the fortress returned to their former allegiance. It would rather seem that Abul Hasan was the loser in this exchange of deserters, for, whereas he was forsaken by his principal nobles, no leaders of the first rank, and probably no one of any importance, left the emperor. The truth probably was that the superior officers knew that whatever hardships they might be called upon to suffer, the result of the campaign was certain. Those inferior to them in rank and intelligence were not so assured of this, and were less patient of hardships which pressed more heavily upon them than upon their superiors.

As the termination of the siege seemed no nearer than when it had first commenced, the emperor recalled his third son, Muhammad A'zam, who had been sent to Ujjain and Agra to regulate Shah Alam's jagirs when that prince fell into disgrace, and had by this time reached Burhanpur. Ruhullah Khan, to whom had been entrusted the administration of Bijapur, was also summoned to the imperial presence. The difficulty of obtaining supplies had in the meantime increased to such an extent that Mirza Yar Ali, an experienced and faithful officer who was appointed chief of the commissariat, declined the appointment in despair of being able to carry out its duties to the emperor's satisfaction.