Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/185

CHAP. VIII.] Early in the night the Rajah sent his own retainers up by a track which they had discovered for reaching the top. He himself followed them at some distance and piled up a shelter of stones in the hillside as his own station. The supports marched towards the Ali Qabi gate, while their leader, Baqi Khan, with 300 men from among Aurangzib's retainers, joined the Rajah. The success of this hazardous enterprise depended on silence and secrecy. But the Mughals bungled. Indian troops are not accustomed to silent work at night, especially in a hilly region. The supporting body was too large and too variously composed to be led on smoothly and noiselessly. There was some disagreement between Rajrup and an Imperial officer named Muzaffar Husain, and words were exchanged. This created a loud noise. The enemy got the alarm and stood on their defence. A surprise was no longer possible in the face of alert defenders, by men climbing up a narrow hill-track in single file. About three hours before daybreak the moon rose and took away the last chance of Mughal success. Soon afterwards, news came to the Rajah, who had been anxiously waiting so long in his stone shelter on the hillside, that his troops had found the defenders of the fort on the summit awake at one place