Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/254

224 vague, and Mir Jumla was in no haste to accept them. He, however, feigned consent, and begged a year's respite in which to collect his property from the ports, and keep his promise to Qutb Shah. So, he urged the Mughal Court to keep this agreement secret till then, for if the Deccani Sultans discovered his successful intrigue with the Emperor, they would, he feared, kill him. In fact three kings were now bidding for his services, and he wished to make the most of the circumstance.

Eager as Aurangzib was to secure Mir Jumla, these delays made his heart turn sick, and he discovered Mir Jumla's duplicity. "I think," he wrote to the Emperor, "that Mir Jumla does not really wish to enter the Imperial service, as he now holds a large kingdom with many fortresses, ports, and strongholds, and has disgusted the Sultan of Bijapur by declining to enter his service. His proposal to take the Emperor's pay is only a matter of policy. He will not leave that country so long as he can dexterously avert the hostility of the two Sultans."

Evidently Aurangzib's solicitations ceased, or his agent at Golkonda blundered and the secret