82 
LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
which were strongly fortified both by nature and 
art,, besides being blocked up with huge masses of 
rock. A wall was also built upon one side to the 
very edge of the precipice. The attack, however, of 
the Tartar troops was so vigorous, notwithstand- 
ing those almost insurmountable impediments, that 
Messer, in alarm, sent to implore Timur’s clemency. 
The emperor, suspecting this was only a feint to gain 
time, imprisoned the messengers, and commanded the 
governor’s son, a child only six years old, to be 
conducted into his presence. The boy pleaded so 
earnestly for his father, that the Jagatay monarch 
promised the life of his parent should be spared pro- 
vided the latter immediately repaired to the imperial 
camp and surrendered the fortress ; at the same time 
putting a collar of gold about the boy’s neck, and send- 
ing him to his father with a courteous letter. The 
Turks were so struck with this act of clemency, that 
they were clamorous in urging their leader to surren- 
der. He, nevertheless, doubting the faith of a con- 
queror whose career of victory had been invariably 
marked with violence, determined not to place his 
life in the tyrant’s hands. 
Several houses being battered down by the engines 
employed in this siege, the governor sent his mother to 
beg quarter for her son, which the emperor again pro- 
mised upon immediate submission. Messer, neverthe- 
less, continued irresolute. At length an artificial 
tower, composed of earth and the trunks of trees, 
was raised above the walls of the fortress, the en- 
gines placed upon them, and such a volley of huge 
stones showered over the battlements as threaten- 
