Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/303

Rh ited the Shah to spare Jankuji's life; whereupon the Shah summoned Barkhurdar Khan, and consulted him on the propriety of the step, to which the Khan in question returned a decided negative. At the same time, one of the Durranis, at Barkhurdar Khan's suggestion, went and cut Jankuji's throat, and buried him under ground inside the very tent in which he was imprisoned.

Shuja-ad-kuli Khan, a powerful and influential servant of the Nawab Shuja-ad-daulah Bahadur, having captured Ibrahim Khan Gardi on the field of battle, kept him with the said Nawab's cognizance in his own tent. No sooner did this intelligence become public than the Durranis began in a body to raise a violent tumult, and clamorously congregating round the door of the Shah's tent, declared that Ibrahim Gardi's neck was answerable for the loss of so many thousands of their fellow countrymen, and that whoever sought to protect him would incur the penalty of their resentment. Nawab Shuja-ad-daulah, feeling that one seeking refuge cannot be slain, prepared for a contest with the Durrani forces, whereupon there ensued a frightful disturbance. At length, Shah Wali Khan took Nawab Shuja-ad-daulah aside privately, and addressing him in a friendly and affectionate tone, proposed that he should deliver up Ibrahim Khan Gardi to him, for the sake of appeasing the wrath of the Durranis; and after a week, when their evil passions had been allayed, he would restore to him the individual entrusted to his care. In short, Shah Wali Khan, having obtained him from the Nawab,