Jawamiʿ al-hikayat wa lawamiʿ al-riwayat 27: Destruction of Robbers by Sultan Mas'ud.—I. xiii. 47.

27

When Sultán Mahmúd sent costly presents to the ruler of Kirmán, the ambassador who took them proceeded viâ Tabbas. In the desert of Khabís there was a body of Kúfaj and Bulúchís who robbed on the highway. They were eighty in number, and had built a stronghold upon an eminence, and had sunk a well. They had committed many robberies, but their conduct had never yet reached the ears of the Sultán. When the ambassador came to this place these people came out and carried off all the presents and rarities in his possession. Some of the men attached to the embassy were slain, but others who escaped returned to Tabbas, and there reported the circumstance to the Sultán, who was proceeding from Ghaznín to Khwárizm by way of Bust. When he arrived at Bust, Sultán Mas'úd came from Hirát and met him. On his arrival, the Sultán would not look at him or give him his hand, but appeared evidently displeased with him. Mas'úd was greatly alarmed, and kissing the ground, he asked what fault he had committed? The Sultan replied, "How can I be pleased with you, and why should I look at you. You are my son, and yet robberies are committed under your nose without your knowing anything about them?" He replied, "Oh king, I was staying in Hirát, and if robberies are committed in the desert of Khabís, what fault is it of mine!" The king replied, "I care not what you say, but I will not look at you unless you bring all the thieves to me, either alive or dead." Sultan Mas'úd, after his interview with the Sultan, returned to Hirát, and there having chosen a party of two hundred men he started in search of the robbers, making continual enquiries about them. On approaching their fort, it occurred to him that they would probably have spies about, and that on hearing of the approach of so large a body of horse, they would take to flight. He therefore ordered fifty horsemen to fasten on their turbans, give their horses their heads, hide their arms under their saddles, so that no one could see them, and to ride forward and keep the enemy engaged until he should come up. He himself slowly followed with 150 horse. The robbers fought strenuously, seeing only a few horsemen before them, but suddenly the Sultan Mas'úd came up in the rear and captured them all. Not one of them escaped, forty were slain, and forty were sent prisoners to the Sultan. Large booty also was taken. The Sultán ordered them to be punished, and they were executed in a most ignominious way. The fame of his vigilance and justice thus spread far and wide.