With 240 proved men I had taken Samarkand; in the next [Sidenote: Fol. 88.] five or six months, things so fell out by the favour of the Most High God, that, as will be told, we fought the arrayed battle of Sar-i-pul with a man like Shaibāq Khān. The help those round-about gave us was as follows;—From The Khān had come, with 4 or 5000 Bārīns, Ayūb _Begchīk_ and Qashka Maḥmūd; from Jahāngīr Mīrzā had come Khalīl, Taṃbal's younger brother, with 100 or 200 men; not a man had come from Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, that experienced ruler, than whom none knew better the deeds and dealings of Shaibāq Khān; none came from Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā; none from Khusrau Shāh because he, the author of what evil done,—as has been told,—to our dynasty! feared us more than he feared Shaibāq Khān. (_g. Bābur defeated at Sar-i-pul._) I marched out of Samarkand, with the wish of fighting Shaibāq Khān, in the month of Shawwāl[553] and went to the New-garden where we lay four or five days for the convenience of gathering our men and completing our equipment. We took the precaution of fortifying our camp with ditch and branch. From the New-garden we advanced, march by march, to beyond Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head) and there dismounted. [Sidenote: Fol. 88b.] Shaibāq Khān came from the opposite direction and dismounted at Khwāja Kārdzan, perhaps one _yīghāch_ away (? 5 m.). We lay there for four or five days. Every day our people went from our side and his came from theirs and fell on one another. One day when they were in unusual force, there was much fighting but neither side had the advantage. Out of that engagement one of our men went rather hastily back into the entrenchments; he was using a standard; some said it was Sayyidī Qarā Beg's standard who really was a man of strong words but weak sword. Shaibāq Khān made one night-attack on us but could do nothing because the camp was protected by ditch and close-set branches. His men raised their war-cry, rained in arrows from outside the ditch and then retired. In the work for the coming battle I exerted myself greatly and took all precautions; Qaṃbar-`alī also did much. In Kesh lay Bāqī Tarkhān with 1000 to 2000 men, in a position to join us after a couple of days. In Diyūl, 4 _yīghāch_ off (? 20 m.), lay Sayyid Muḥ. Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_, bringing me 1000 to 2000 men from my Khān dādā; he would have joined me at [Sidenote: Fol. 89.] dawn. With matters in this position, we hurried on the fight! Who lays with haste his hand on the sword, Shall lift to his teeth the back-hand of regret.[554] The reason I was so eager to engage was that on the day of battle, the Eight stars[555] were between the two armies; they would have been in the enemy's rear for 13 or 14 days if the fight had been deferred. I now understand that these considerations are worth nothing and that our haste was without reason.