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66 to fall back on their retreats. Failing health now induced him to adopt a policy of conciliation, so he invested the Patiala chief as independent ruler of Sirhind, with the title of Raja of Rajas, with colours and drum, the insignia of royalty, and the right to strike coins; while he confirmed a Sikh chief, who had been one of the joint governors of Lahore, in his possessions in the neighbourhood of that capital, in the vain hope of securing his aid for the Afghan governor he left there. He gave the inch, and the Sikhs soon took the ell: as the powerful Ahmad Shah had commenced to cede, they saw he felt his hold of the Punjab was receding. They cut off the baggage train of his army on its retirement north, and no sooner had he crossed the Indus than they captured Lahore and Rhotas.

Not even the semblance of Afghan dominion now remained in the country between the Indus and the Jumna. The Sikh chiefs spread themselves over it and