Sixteen persons took refuge on a steep mountain peak, and when they saw no Mongols coming back, they went down to Herat. A few others came also and joined them. There was then a new population, forty persons in number. Their only refuge was the chief mosque of the city. After its terrible ruin, Merv had been repeopled to some extent, but later five thousand Mongols were sent to that city and they slaughtered all whom they found in it. When these five thousand had done their work thoroughly a commandant, Ak Melik, was left with the order to kill all who might reappear in the ruins. This man did his best to find people and slay them. He sent muezzins to summon to prayer from the minarets. Whenever a Moslem crept out of his hiding place and entered the mosque he was seized and his life taken. Forty-one days did Ak Melik lurk there and wait for more people. The survivors were few when he left the ruins. Merv remained a sad desert till the days of Shah Ruk, son of Tamerlane. Jinghis cut down on the banks of the Indus all who had been faithful to Jelal ud din, the new Shah, and now he destroyed all who had deserted that sovereign and been foolishly treacherous. On deserting Jelal ud din, Agrak had gone with Azam to Bekerhar. After a visit there he set out for Peshawur, and from the first halting place sent back this message: “Let not my mortal enemy remain in thy country.” This enemy was Nuh Jaudar, the chief of five or six thousand Kolluj families. Azam sent back this answer: “Never has there been among Moslems such need as there now is not to quarrel.” And taking an escort of fifty, Azam followed to make peace between Agrak and Jaudar. He could not move Agrak or persuade him; they ate together and also drank wine; Agrak’s brain grew excited, he mounted, took one hundred men and rode to the camp of the Kollujes. Jaudar thinking that Agrak wished peace rode forth with his son to greet him. On seeing his enemy Agrak drew his sabre as if to strike, and was cut down by Jaudar’s men the next moment. When Agrak’s adherents heard that their leader had been slain they thought that Jaudar and Azam had plotted his ruin, and right away they slew Azam. Then they attacked Jaudar’s camp, where they massacred him and his children. Soon after this they encountered the Gur men and killed a great number. As a close to this tragic insanity of action a corps of mounted Mongols fell upon all and slew them indiscriminately; a small remnant fled in various directions. CHAPTER VIII DEATH AND BURIAL OF THE CONQUEROR Jinghis had passed the winter of 1222–3 near the Indus, and in the spring of 1223 he resolved, rather suddenly as it seemed, to march up the Indus and return through Tibet to Tangut and China. The reasons given by historians for this move are various. There were troubles in Tangut and there was no imperative reason for remaining in Kwaresm, since that Empire was utterly helpless; it had been depopulated and ruined in most parts.