1894.] 
W. Irvine —Guru Gob hid Sir/gh and Bandah. 
139 
round the hill on which the building stood. Mun‘!m Khan reported to 
His Majesty the course of events, and in the confusion of the fight the 
escape of the Guru having remained unnoticed, he added that the 
leader was surrounded and would shortly be brought in a prisoner. One 
story is that Zu,lfiqar Khan, long at enmity with Mun'Im Khan, pur¬ 
posely spread the false report through his spies that the Guru was a 
prisoner. Munlm Khan’s own spies believed the story and brought in 
the news as true, whereupon Mun'im Khan intimated the fact to the 
Emperor. 1 2 
Prince Rafi £ u-sh Shan and Zu,lfiqar Khan camped for the night 
at the place where they had halted in the morning. Up till midnight 
the sounds of fighting were brought on the wind to the imperial camp, 
which was at a very little distance. Between midnight and daybreak 
there was a loud report, which made the ground under the tents tremble ; 
and scouts brought word that it was caused by the explosion of a 
cannon made out of the trunk of a tamarind tree, which the Sikhs 
had filled with powder and blown to pieces just as they were about 
to retreat. 8 
In the morning (20th Shawwal, 1122 = 11th December, 1710) 
Rustam Dil Khan appeared with the prisoners and spoil, the latter 
including five elephants, three cannon, seventeen light pieces ( raJiklah ) 
and some other things. He was rewarded with a gift of two of the 
elephants. The prisoners, ten or twelve in number, were made over 
to the police officer, Sarbarah Khan, for execution. The chief man 
among them was one Gulabu Khatri, a tobacco seller, who had passed 
himself off as the Guru, in order to facilitate the real man’s escape. 
As the proverb says “ The hawk had flown and the owl was netted.” 3 
Khafi Khan, with reference to this event, comments 4 on the zeal 
and self-sacrificing spirit shown by the Guru’s followers. They were 
all equally devoted to his cause. What a contrast to the imperial 
armies, where, out of two or three thousand men, it was wonderful if 
one or two hundred were really prepared to fight to the death ! 
Bahadur Shah’s displeasure at the escape of the Guru could not 
be concealed, and his calm temper was disturbed in a very unusual 
degree. There was a stormy scene between him and the chief minister. 
Bahadur Shah reproached him with being the cause of delay of every 
kind. At length, when the quarry had been driven into the net, it had, 
by his want of care and precaution, sprung away again, leaving no trace 
1 Kamwar Khan. 82, 31a,asii u-l-Umara, III, 673-4. 
2 Kamwar Khan, 82. 
S Bdz paridah o bum , ba dam uftddah ant. Ma ) dsiru-l-Umaru, III, 673. 
* II, 672, 673. 
