18 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
army to its destination. He shall be a torch in your 
hand, and assuredly we shall then easily surmount 
these difficulties, and pluck the rose of accom- 
plishment, without trouble ; and we shall yet see 
the fulfilment of your excellency's vow. This slave 
shall precede us, and five thousand of my best sol- 
diers shall follow to behold the downfall of their 
enemy. Let us set forth, most noble Mallek ; I am 
impatient of delay, now that I see this ray of light 
which you have cast upon my path.” 
It was on a beautiful fresh morning in the spring, 
a. d. 1453, that Mallek-ul-Tija, attended by 500 
nobles of Medina, Kurballa, and Nujif, and also with 
many Dekkani and Abyssinian chiefs, each a hero 
of a thousand trophies, set forth upon their march 
towards the dominions of Sanghir. Ten thousand 
chosen horse, their clashing amis and rattling hoofs 
greeting the early dawn, their glittering banners 
spread, and their countless spears waving like corn 
before the breeze, led by their gallant chief, passed 
proudly upon their way ; now filing through the nar- 
row defile, and now again spreading across the open 
plain. For many hours, without check or hindrance, 
they continued their course through a diversified coun- 
try, here partially cultivated, here deeply shrouded 
with jungul and forest wood, and there again a 
waste and trackless plain ; so that at high noon, 
when Mallek-ul-Tija commanded a halt, at the 
foot of a low range of hills, he, in a bantering tone, 
