Page:The Tarikh-i-Rashidi - Mirza Muhammad Haidar, Dughlát - tr. Edward D. Ross (1895).djvu/43

 16 the Khan's kingdom and power. But besides this, he had been companion and instructor to two of the Khan's sons, and when the elder of these marked the commencement of his reign by acts of ingratitude and bloodshed, it is scarcely surprising that he should be deeply hurt, and should record his feelings, years afterwards, in his history.

Hence, fearing that he might meet with the same treatment as his uncle and others of his family, if he returned to Kashghar, he had to seek for a refuge. It was impossible to stay longer in Ladak, while all the direct roads to India and Kabul were in the hands of those whom he had lately been chastising and plundering, in the name of religion. With the daring of despair, he determined to try and reach Badakhshán with the handful of adherents that remained in his service, by turning off from the usual track between Ladak and Yarkand, at a point called Ak-Tagh, to the north of the Karakorum Pass; and after following the course of the Yarkand river for some distance, to gain Ráskám, the southern Pamirs, and Wakhán. This adventure—apparently almost hopeless under the conditions in which he attempted it—he accomplished successfully, accompanied by about twenty followers, though not without much hardship and suffering. The winter of 1536–7 he spent in Badakhshan, the following summer he repaired to Kabul, and shortly after to Lahore, where he was received by Baber's son, Kámrán Mirza, and found himself, as he tells us, raised from the depths of distress to honour and dignity.

Kámrán was at that time engaged in a struggle for territory with the Persians, and had, soon after our author's arrival, to proceed to the relief of Kandahar, which was being besieged by Sám Mirza and by Shah Tahmásp, the sons of Shah Ismail, the Safavi; but before setting out he appointed his guest to the governorship of those parts of India (the whole of the Punjab) which belonged to him, and in this capacity Mirza Haidar resided for over a year at Lahore, "collecting taxes, suppressing revolt, protecting the frontiers, and establishing Islám." It was shortly after Kámrán's return to the Punjab, (1538) that Humayun had sustained a severe defeat in Bengal at the hands of Shir Sháh Sur, the Afghán leader, who was now advancing towards Agra by the left bank of the Ganges. A large part of Humayun's army having accompanied him to Bengal, he made an appeal to Kámrán and his other brothers to send assistance to Agra, while he himself hurried northward. Kámrán, after