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THE MARCH TO DEOGIR 146 be despatched by the sword to their brothers in hell, so that fire, the improper object of their worship, might mete out proper punishment to them. The tempestuous army moved swiftly, like a hur- ricane, to Gurganw. Everywhere the accursed tree that produced no religion was found and torn up by the roots, and the people who were destroyed were like trunks carried along in the torrent of the Jihun, or like straw tossed up and down in a whirlwind and carried forward. When the army reached the Tawi (Tapti), they saw a river like the sea. The soldiers crossed it by a ford quicker than the hurricane which they re- sembled, and afterwards employed themselves in cut- ting down jungles and destroying gardens. On Thursday, the 13th of Eamazan, 709 A. H. (Feb. 14, 1310 A. D.), the royal canopy cast its shadow on Deogir, which had been protected by the angels, and there the army determined to make all preparations for extirpating Billal Deo and other Deos (demons). The Maharaja, Ram Deo, who had heard safety pro- claimed by the dreadful Mohammedan timbals, consid- ered himself secure under the protection assured to him, and, true to his allegiance, forwarded with all his heart the preparations necessary for the equipment of the army sent by the court, so as to render it avail- able for the extermination of rebels and the destruc- tion of the Bir and Dhur Samundar. The city was adorned in honour of the occasion, and food and clothes were supplied in abundance to the Mussulmans. Dalvi, a Hindu, who had been sent on to hold the