Delhi in Moghal Times
palace, and were able to extinguish the flames before much damage had been done; the blind king was released, but Ghulam Kadir was not pursued for some days. At length considerable reinforcements arrived, and the ruffian was invested In the fort of Meerut, whence he escaped alone, with such of his plunder as he could carry on his horse. Riding in the dead of night, his horse fell into a " well-run," the inclined way by which the bullocks draw up the leather waterbag. His horse made off, but he was stunned by the fall; in the morning he was taken prisoner, and eventually despatched to Sclndias camp at Muttra. There he was mounted on a donkey, with his face to the tail, and sent round the bazar;, when he abused his guards, his tongue was torn out. Then he was blinded, his nose, ears, hands, and feet were cut off, and in this miserable condition he was sent to Shah Alam. But his guards grew tired of carrying him along,and hanged him head downwards on a tree; thus he died. There Is a weird story of a black dog, which licked the blood as it dropped from
his corpse until both dog and corpse mysteriously disappeared; there seems little reason to suppose that his body was buried at the shrine of Kutb-ud-din, as has been stated by the guardians. Whether
he was really responsible for the firing of the251
