72 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
detachment were admitted before sunrise. Not a 
creature within the fort suspected that an enemy was 
so near. All save the sentinels on the ramparts were 
hushed in slumber. At a signal, agreed upon before 
the troops of Humayoon had quitted their tents, 
they attacked the garrison with irresistible resolution. 
The latter, taken by surprise and having armed them- 
selves ineffectually, made but a faint resistance : 
many of them started from their sleep only to be 
struck down by the sword of an unsparing foe. On 
all sides slaughter did her sanguinary work. Confu- 
sion everywhere prevailed. The shrieks of women 
and children, mingled with the clash of arms, added 
another feature of horror to the dreadful scene. 
While the frightful work of carnage was going on, 
Humayoon, at the head of his detachment of chosen 
followers, cut his way, sword in hand, through all op- 
posers, and crying out, “ Allah Akbar a phrase 
signifying God is great, and the war-cry of Mo- 
hammedan soldiers, he rushed towards the principal 
gate, burst it open, and the whole body of his troops 
entering soon overpowered the astonished and paralysed 
garrison. With a cruelty which nothing can extenuate, 
every soldier within the walls was put to death, ex- 
cept the governor and his family, who were within an 
inner citadel; here for many days Yekhtyar Khan 
defended himself with undaunted resolution against 
the united force of the Moghuls. He was, however, 
at length obliged to capitulate ; but in consequence 
of the valour he had displayed in defence of the ci- 
tadel, he obtained honourable terms from a generally 
merciful and generous conqueror. He was allowed to 
