concession to the commander of the army, but none to the leader of the Gugawats. Lachhman Singh, the chief of Sikar, who, as before stated, was the only Shaikhawat who kept aloof from the affray, saw the moment was arrived for the accomplishment of his long-concealed desire to be lord of Khandela. The siege of Bhumgarh being broken up, in consequence of these dissensions and the defection of the confederated Shaikhawats, the Sikar chief no sooner saw them move by the circuitous route of the capital, than he marched directly for his estates, and throwing aside all disguise, attacked Sisa, which by an infamous stratagem he secured, by inveigling the commandant, the son of the late Bohra minister. Then making overtures to the enemy, against whom he had just been fighting, for the sum of two lakhs of rupees, he obtained a brigade of the mercenary Pathans, under their leaders Manu and Mahtab Khan [421], the last of whom, but a few days before, had entered into a solemn engagement with Hanwant, as manager for the minor princes, to support whose cause, and to abstain from molesting their estates, he had received fifty thousand rupees! Such nefarious acts were too common at that period even to occasion remark, far less reprehension. =Siege of Khandela.=—The gallant Hanwant now prepared for the defence of the lands which his valour had redeemed. His foeman made a lavish application of the wealth which his selfish policy had acquired, and Rewasa and other fiefs were soon in his possession. The town of Khandela, being open, soon followed, but the castle held out sufficiently long to enable him to strengthen and provision Kot, which he determined to defend to the last. Having withstood the attacks of the enemy, during three weeks, in the almost ruined castle, he sallied out sword in hand, and gained Kot, where he assembled all those yet faithful to the family, and determined to stand or fall with the last stronghold of Khandela. The other chiefs of the confederation beheld with indignation this unprovoked and avaricious aggression on the minor princes of Khandela, not only because of its abstract injustice, but of the undue aggrandizement of this inferior branch of the Raesalots, and the means employed, namely, the common enemy of their country. Many leagued for its prevention, but some were bribed by the offer of a part of the domain, and those who were too virtuous to be corrupted, found their intentions defeated by the necessity of defending their own homes against the detachments of Amir Khan, sent by desire of Sikar to neutralize their efforts. The court was steeled against all remonstrance, from the unhappy rupture at Bhumgarh, the blockade of which, it was represented, was broken by the conduct of the followers of Khandela.