A few marches further on came Jahāngīr Mīrzā, saying, "I [Sidenote: Fol. 152b.] have a private word for you." When we were in private, he said, "Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ came and said to me, 'You make the Pādshāh cross the water of Sind with 7, 8, 10 persons, then make yourself Pādshāh.'" Said I, "What others are heard of as consulting with him?" Said he, "It was but a moment ago Bāqī Beg spoke to me; I know no more." Said I, "Find out who the others are; likely enough Sayyid Ḥusain Akbar and Sl. `Alī the page are in it, as well as Khusrau Shāh's begs and braves." Here the Mīrzā really behaved very well and like a blood-relation; what he now did was the counterpart of what I had done in Kāhmard,[916] in this same ill-fated mannikin's other scheme of treachery.[917] On dismounting after the next march, I made Jahāngīr Mīrzā lead a body of well-mounted men to raid the Aūghāns (Afghāns) of that neighbourhood. Many men's horses were now left behind in each camping-ground, the day coming when as many as 2 or 300 were left. Braves of the first rank went on foot; Sayyid Maḥmūd _Aūghlāqchī_, one of the best of the household-braves, left his horses behind and walked. In this state as to horses we went all the rest of the way to Ghaznī. Three or four marches further on, Jahāngīr Mīrzā plundered [Sidenote: Fol. 153.] some Afghāns and brought in a few sheep. (_l. The Āb-i-istāda._) When, with a few more marches, we reached the Standing-water (_Āb-i-istāda_) a wonderfully large sheet of water presented itself to view; the level lands on its further side could not be seen at all; its water seemed to join the sky; the higher land and the mountains of that further side looked to hang between Heaven and Earth, as in a mirage. The waters there gathered are said to be those of the spring-rain floods of the Kattawāz-plain, the Zurmut-valley, and the Qarā-bāgh meadow of the Ghaznī-torrent,—floods of the spring-rains, and the over-plus[918] of the summer-rise of streams. When within two miles of the Āb-i-istāda, we saw a wonderful thing,—something as red as the rose of the dawn kept shewing and vanishing between the sky and the water. It kept coming and going. When we got quite close we learned that what seemed the cause were flocks of geese,[919] not 10,000, not 20,000 in a flock, but geese innumerable which, when the mass of birds flapped their wings in flight, sometimes shewed red feathers, sometimes not. Not only was this bird there in countless numbers, but birds of every sort. Eggs lay in masses on the shore. When two Afghāns, come there to collect eggs, saw us, [Sidenote: Fol. 153b.] they went into the water half a _kuroh_ (a mile). Some of our men following, brought them back. As far as they went the water was of one depth, up to a horse's belly; it seemed not to lie in a hollow, the country being flat.