Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/116

86 was surrounded by her women, who came shrieking and lamenting, and found her howdah stained with blood, and herself busy in extracting the arrow and binding up the wound of the infant."

EMPRESS NUR JAHAN, THE WIFE OF JAHANGIR.

Open war had failed, and the brave woman resorted to other methods. She boldly entered the camp and for months shared her husband's captivity. By degrees her arts lulled to rest the watchful suspicions of the general; she won over some of the leading officers to her side; and finally the emperor found himself at liberty, with his faithful queen beside him and the army at his command. Mahabat Khan fled to Shah Jahan. The victory came too late, however, for Jahangir had scarcely restored order at Kabul and paid a visit to the happy vale of Kashmir, his favourite summer resort, when he was seized by a mortal sickness, and died in October, 1627, before he had attained his sixtieth year. There was now little use in opposing Shah Jahan, who had Mahabat Khan at his side and the full support of the army. The empress's brother, the minister Asaf Khan, joined the rising power, which he had always favoured, and Prince Shahriyar, who never had the smallest title to the throne, was defeated,