Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c42.s2.55

v3.c42.s2.55

At last, the position within beleaguered fort became utterly intolerable. On 17th December, after leaving a strong force under Maniyār Singh in the Suraj Kund suburb to keep the Marathas engaged, Ghulām Qādir slipped out of the fort with a party of 500 horsemen at night and sought to gain the road to Ghausgarh. A short distance outside he fell in with a Maratha patrol under Jivā Dādā, which fought and pursued him up to midnight, destroying half his escort. When the pursuers halted, Ghulām Qādir, who had concealed himself in a hollow, resumed his flight. In the darkness the fugitives separated; Ghulām Qādir missed his path and his comrades and rode on alone. At last his horse stumbled into a hole and broke its leg. The Ruhela chief continued the journey limping on foot. The dawn revealed a village in front of him; it was Bamnauli,* three miles south-west of Shāmli. He had covered some forty miles in his flight, but in the north-western direction instead of turning to the east for his home. In this village he took shelter in the house of a Brahman,—"probably a sufferer from his former raids," as Khair-ud-din suggests, —and offered the man rewards for supplying him with a pony and a guide to Ghausgarh. The Brahman conveyed the intelligence to Ali Bahadur whose camp lay in the way, and a party of Marathas arrived and took the Ruhela chief prisoner (19th December.)