Shivaji and His Times c8.s29.1

c8.s29.1

Meanwhile, at Agra, Hiraji lay in Shivaji's bed all that night and well into the afternoon of the next day. The guards who peeped in in the morning were satisfied when they saw Shiva's gold bracelet on the sleeper's wrist, and a servant sitting on the floor massaging the royal patient's feet. About 3 P.M. Hiraji quietly walked out of the house with the servant, warning the sentries at the gate, "Make less noise; Shivaji is ill and under treatment." Gradually the guards' suspicion was aroused; the house seemed strangely deserted; no crowd of visitors came to see Shiva as usual; and there was no sound, no stir in the house. They entered his room and found that the bird had flown away! They at once ran with the astounding news to their chief Fulad Khan, who reported it to the Emperor, ascribing Shiva's flight to witchcraft and saving himself from all blame. "The Rajah," so he said, "was in his own room. We visited it regularly. But he vanished all of a sudden from our sight. Whether he flew into the sky or disappeared into the earth, is not known, nor what magical trick he has played."