BABER., 
151 
a drinking-cup, and was proud of displaying it at 
great entertainments/’* 
Thus was Baber released from his greatest enemy. 
The conqueror formed an alliance with him, and he 
soon found himself at the head of sixty thousand 
horse. With this army he defeated the Uzbecks, 
subdued the kingdom of Bukhara, a third time ob- 
tained possession of Samerkund, and was acknow- 
ledged its sovereign. The king’s ill fortune, how- 
ever, speedily prevailed. Bukhara was again invad- 
ed by the Uzbecks, his troops were defeated, and 
he was once more obliged to abandon the capital. 
Shah Ismael sent an army to his assistance, which 
being joined by Baber, invested the fortress of Karshi, 
then in possession of the Uzbecks. Upon its surrender 
the Persians put fifteen thousand citizens, including 
the garrison, to the sword. This greatly disgusted 
Baber, the citizens being chiefly Jagatay Turks, his 
countrymen, to whom he was greatly attached. 
The enemy now collected their forces for a final 
struggle ; and having defeated the combined armies of 
Baber and Shah Ismael, the general of the latter be- 
ing slain in the action, the former became a fugitive, 
as he had already frequently been, and scarcely a 
hope remained to him of recovering his hereditary do- 
minions. To add to his distress, the Moghuls revolted, 
fell upon him in the night, slaughtered his followers, 
and plundered his baggage. This attack was so unex- 
pected, that the royal fugitive not being prepared to re- 
pel it, was obliged to take refuge in his night-clothes 
* Memoirs of Baber, pp. 239, 240. 
