Najaf Kuli Khan obeyed the Imperial summons, and reached Dehli, where he encamped close to the Begam Sumroo, in front of the main gate of the Palace, on the 17th November, 1787. The general command of the Imperial troops was conferred upon the Emperor's second son, Mirza Akbar, who, since the flight of his elder brother, had been considered as heir apparent, and who now received a khillat of seven pieces. The son of a Hindu official, named Ram Rattan, was appointed the Prince's deputy (although he was by descent nothing but a modi or "chandler"); and a cannonade was opened on the camp of Gholam Kadir, who replied by sending round shot into the palace itself, some of which fell on the Diwan Khas. Sindhia's conduct at this juncture has never been explained. He was himself at Gwalior, and his army under Lakwa Dada, shut up in the fort of Agra, was defending itself as well as it might against the forces under Ismail Beg. At the same time the author of the Tarikh-i-Mazafari assures us that Ambaji Inglia — one of Sindhia's most trusty lieutenants, arrived in Dehli with a small force, and that his arrival was the signal for a reconciliation between the Emperor's principal adherents and Gholam Kadir, who was then introduced to the presence, and invested with the dignity of Premier Noble (Shah Alam himself binding upon his head the jewelled fillet called Dastar-u-Goshwara). It is probable that a compromise was effected, in which Gholam Kadir, by receiving the desired office at the hands of the Mahratta minister, was supposed to have acknowledged the supremacy of the latter. The whole story is perplexing. When cannonaded, the Pathan chief suddenly appears within the palace; when Sindhia's troops arrive, he receives the investiture that he was seeking in opposition to Sindhia; and at the moment of success he marches off to Aligarh. This latter movement is, however, accounted for by Francklin, who attributes it to the news of Prince Jawan Bakht being at hand with the forces of Himmat Bahadur, who had joined the cause of Ismail Beg. At all events, if Gholam Kadir owed this sudden improvement in his position to the good offices of the man whose garrison he had so lately chased from Dehli, he did not evince his gratitude in a form that could have been expected; for he lost no time in marching against Sindhia's late conquest of Aligarh, which fort almost immediately fell into his hands. He then proceeded to join his forces to those of Ismail Beg, before Agra; and remained for some months assisting at the siege of that fort; these operations being subject to constant annoyance from the Jats, and from the troops of Sindhia, who finally crossed the Chambal at the end of the cold season of 1787, having received large reinforcements from the Deccan. Ismail Beg and Gholam Kadir immediately raised the siege of Agra, turned upon the advancing army, and an obstinate battle took place at Chaksana, eleven miles from Bhartpur, on the 24th April. The particulars of this