TIMUR BEG. 
15 
young but intrepid leader had been invested by the 
youth of the district, took up arms against the judge 
and the ministers of his cruelty. Timur was not sor- 
ry at the opportunity thus afforded him of trying his 
strength in the field against the rebels to his authority. 
Conscious of the resources of his own genius, he saw 
clearly that this resistance would eventually tend not 
only to confirm his supremacy, but to enlarge his do- 
minions. The members of two families connected with 
the criminal whom he had so summarily sacrificed, 
mustered their strength, and united to avenge the 
death of their relative, whom they considered to have 
been executed not only without a legal trial, but with 
a barbarity far exceeding the magnitude of his offence. 
They encamped in the pastures, declaring themselves 
determined to avenge the death of one of their kin- 
dred, who had been doomed to destruction by an au- 
thority which was usurped, and which therefore they 
did not recognise. 
Timur led his young associates to battle. The two 
rebel families being defeated with great slaughter 
were obliged to cast themselves upon the conqueror's 
clemency, and make an unconditional acknowledg- 
ment of his supremacy. In this and similar encoun- 
ters most of the prince’s followers served their novi- 
ciate in arms. This decisive victory gave him and 
them a foretaste of that glory which awaited his future 
achievements. The report of his valour and conduct 
soon gathered round him all the enterprising youth 
of the neighbourhood. He was extolled as a hero, 
and these early panegyrics excited within him a desire 
to prove himself more worthy of them. Multitudes of 
young men crowded to the standard of the youthful 
