t 
very much as they pleased ; and though, when assembled together, 
they fought bravely and faithfully, they were not to be relied upon 
when separated. During the campaign against Hemoo, and whilst 
the Emperor was temporarily absent from camp, Beiram resolved 
upon making one serious example, and caused Tardy Khan Beg 
to be beheaded, on the ground of his having abandoned his post 
at Dehli. On his return, Beiram Khan informed Akber what he 
had done, and of his grounds for so severe a measure, which 
involved the discipline of the army and the safety of all. Akber 
gave a reluctant approval of the act, which was abundantly justified 
in the result. 
Other acts of Beiram Khan were of a violent and perhaps 
revengeful character ; and though as a state necessity, Akber had 
openly acquiesced in the policy of the execution of Tardy Khan 
Beg, yet that officer had been one of his father’s earliest and most 
devoted friends and companions: no taint had ever fallen upon 
his reputation for bravery; and general sympathy for his fate 
prevailed, which was shared by Akber himself. 
One day, during an elephant fight which the Emperor was 
witnessing, one of the beasts engaged ran through the ropes of the 
minister’s tent, who took the accident as a personal affront, and 
remonstrated against it; but was apparently satisfied with his 
ward’s protestation that no indignity was intended. Several other 
occurrences served to excite mutual suspicion. The summary 
execution by Beiram Khan of a person of some rank, who had 
given him offence, aroused the anger of the Chogtay Tartar nobles 
of the court to whose tribe he had belonged; and Moolla Pier 
Mahomed, the Emperor’s preceptor, who had also given offence to 
the minister, was summarily removed from office, banished from 
court, and replaced by a person in the minister's interest. The 
breach between them was evidently widening, when at Agra one 
of the royal elephants attacked and killed another belonging to 
the minister, who ordered the driver of the emperor’s elephant to 
be put to death ; and on another occasion, an elephant ran against 
a boat in the river in which the minister was seated, and almost 
upset it, Beiram Khan considering this as a plot against his life, 
