Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/77

EOUT OF ANDPAL OF HIND 51 first, notwithstanding his power, to bow down his broad neck, to cut down the trees of his jungles, to des- troy every thing he possessed, and thus to ob- tain the fruit of two paradises by this double con- quest. He accordingly stretched out upon him the hand of slaughter, imprisonment, pillage, depopulation, and fire, and hunted him from ambush to ambush, into which he was followed by his subjects. The spears were wearied with penetrating the rings of the coats of mail, the swords became blunt by the blows on the sides, and the Sultan pursued the raja over hill and dale, until his followers either became a feast to the rapacious wild beasts of the passes and plains or fled in distraction to the neighbourhood of Kashmir. When Abi-al-futuh, the ruler of Multan, heard what had happened to the chief of Hind, notwithstanding all his power and the lofty walls of his fort, and despite his shining sword, and when he began to measure their relative strength and considered how Andpal, a much greater potentate than himself, had been subdued, he looked upon himself, as compared with Sultan Mahmud, as a ravine in comparison with the top of a mountain. He therefore determined to load all his property on elephants, and carry it off to Sarandip, and he left Multan empty for the Sultan to deal with as he chose. Mahmud accordingly invested Multan, took it by as- sault, treated the people with severity, and levied from them twenty thousand thousand dirhams with which to respite their sins. The reports of Sultan Mahmud 's