CHAP. XIII.] INTRIGUE AMONG PRINCES. 327
and the two had evidently formed a vague friend- ly understanding against Dara. But their plans now took definite shape in the shadow of the Emperor's approaching death. Curiously enough, on almost the same date (middle of October) both brothers suddenly remembered that they had not corresponded with each other for a long time past ; their brotherly love welled out ; and each wrote to the other a letter mentioning in a neutral tone the news of Shah Jahan's illness. But each letter was carried by a confidential messenger who was charged with certain oral communications which it was unsafe to put down on paper. The two letters crossed each other on the way. Murad also wrote (19th October) a letter to Shuja proposing an alliance, and it was sent through Aurangzib's province, who helped the courier to proceed to Bengal and entrusted to him a letter of his own to the same purport.*
The correspondence thus began Their frequent i_ • 1 1 t' u ^ ^u
c o r r espondence went on briskly. 1 o hasten the
and also with carriage of letters, relays of
Shuja. , i_i- 1 1
postal runners were estabiisnea
between Guzerat and the Deccan. Murad
stationed two men every ten miles all the way
from Ahmadabad to the Deccan frontier, (end
- Adab-i-Alamgiri, i6ga and b, ijob. Faiyaz-ul-
^atwanm, 433-434, 417.
