138 W. Irvine — Tie Bangasl Nawabs of Farrukldhdd. [_^°- 2 > 



income was not sufficient to provide for the pay of his force. Umrao Gir 

 replied that, to vex Shuja'-ud-daula, he intended to stay a few months, and 

 if by his aid the Nawab obtained nothing, he should not ask for pay. Him- 

 mat Bahadur showed the letter to Shuja't 'Ali Khan, chela, known as 

 Miyan 'Ise, and he told Shuja'-ud-daula. The latter wrote an angry letter 

 to Ahmad Khan, ordering him to turnout his "thief" at once. Ahmad 

 Khan in reply dared Shuja'-ud-daula to do his worst ; he had not sent for 

 Umrao Gir, who had come of his own accord ; and never yet had he turned 

 out any refugee. Shuja'-ud-daula brooded over this answer, and for some 

 months nothing more was heard of the matter. Meanwhile Nawab Ahmad 

 Khan's chief men urged Umrao Gir to go away, for if anything happened, 

 all the world would say that he had been the ruin of the Bangash family. 

 Umrao Gir listened to them and prepared to go away. Ahmad Khan declar- 

 ed that not a hundred Shuja'-ud-daulas should drag him away did he wish 

 to remain ; at the same time, if he desired to go, his feet were not chained. 

 Umrao Gir started in the direction of Agra, but had gone no more than 

 one stage when he was recalled, Shuja'-ud-daula's approach having been 

 reported to the Nawab. 



Shuja'-ud-daula had heard that at Farrukhabad there was only a small 

 force of four or five thousand men, the remainder being scattered about in 

 the parganahs. He therefore gave out that he was marching on a mulk- 

 giri, or expedition to recover revenue from refractory zamindars. Part of 

 the army advanced up the Duab, plundering on its way the town of Muse- 

 nagar on the Jumna. Head quarters were for a time at the Sarae of 

 Khwaja Pul.* On his side, Shuja'-ud-daula left Faizabad and proceeded 

 leisurely through his own dominions till he reached the ferry of Nanamau 

 in parganah Bilhor. The army crossed over and proceeded to Kanauj, 

 while Shuja'-ud-daula and the Emperor took up their quarters at a bunga- 

 low and Idgli in Makanpur, called the Madar-bari, belonging to Ahmad 

 Khan. The villages in the neighbourhood of both Kanauj and Makanpur 

 were given up to plunder. 



The news writers had kept Nawab Ahmad Khan under the impression 

 that this army had set out for " Mulk-giri.^ It was not till Shuja'-ud- 

 daula arrived at Makanpur and began to ask how long it took to reach 

 Farrukhabad, that its destination was disclosed. Bajah Ganga Singh of 

 Chachendi,f a great friend of Nawab Ahmad Khan, then with Shuja'- 

 ud-daula, determined to send a letter of warning. He disguised his 

 ni3ssenger as a fakir and hid the note in the man's shoe. His orders were 



* In Parganah Sikandrah, some fourteen miles south-west of Jhinjhak railway- 

 station. 



f See p. 377, Vol. XLVII, 1878. 



