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1666] then Shiva and his son issued forth and made their way to a village six miles from Agra, where the trusty Niraji Ravji (his Chief Justice) was waiting for them with horses. After a hurried consultation in a jungle the party divided; Shiva with his son and three officers, Niraji Ravji, Datta Trimbak and Raghumitra a low-caste Maratha, smeared themselves with ashes like Hindu ascetics, and hastened towards Mathura, while the others took their own way homewards.

Meanwhile, at Agra, Hiraji lay in bed all that night and well into the afternoon of the next day. The guards who peeped in in the morning were satisfied when they saw Shiva's gold bracelet on the sleeper's wrist, and a servant sitting on the floor massaging the patient's feet. About 3 P.M. Hiraji quietly walked out of the house with the servant, warning the sentries at the gate, "Make less noise; Shivaji is ill and under treatment." Gradually the guards' suspicion was aroused; the house seemed strangely deserted; no crowd of visitors came to see Shiva as usual; and there was no sound, no stir in the house. They entered his room and found that the bird had flown ! They at once ran with the astounding news to their chief Fulad Khan, who reported it to the Emperor, ascribing Shiva's fight to witchcraft and saving himself from all blame. "The Rajah," so he said, "was in his own room. We