218 LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
blown down. “ I was writing in the middle of my 
pavilion/’ says the emperor in his Memoirs,* “ and so 
suddenly did the storm come on, that I had not time 
to gather up my papers and the loose sheets that were 
written, before it blew down the pavilion, with the 
screen that surrounded it, upon my head. The top of 
the pavilion was shattered to pieces, but God pre- 
served me : I suffered no injury. The books and 
sheets of paper were drenched with wet, but were ga- 
thered again with much trouble, folded in woollen 
cloth, and placed under a bed, over which carpets were 
thrown. The storm abated in two geris.t We con- 
trived to get up the Toshek-Khana tent, (the store- 
tent in which the cloths, carpets, &c. were kept,) 
lighted a candle with much difficulty, kindled a fire, 
and did not sleep till morning, being busily employed 
all the while in drying the leaves and papers.” 
Baber having encamped his troops in the neigh- 
bourhood of Futtehpoor, a large town in the province 
of Allahabad, sixty-five miles south from Lucknow, 
refreshed his soldiers by a halt of several days, and 
thence proceeded to Ghazipoor. Here he received in- 
telligence that the enemy had attacked Lucknow, and 
made themselves masters of the fortress by an unto- 
ward accident. It appears they had assaulted the place 
without effect, being bravely repulsed by the garrison, 
when a large quantity of hay which had been col- 
lected near the walls being accidentally set on fire, 
the ramparts became so hot that the soldiers, unable 
to remain on them, were obliged to retire. Water 
Page 419. 
t About an hour. 
