scalade required great coolness and
courage, for it was dark, and no one knew, in going up the ladder, how
many enemies he might have to encounter at the top of it.

The next place which the army of Jughi approached was a quiet and
beautiful town, the seat of several institutions of learning, and the
residence of learned men and men of leisure. It was a very pleasant
place, full of fountains, gardens, and delightful pleasure-grounds,
with many charming public and private promenades. The name of this
place was Toukat, and the beauty and attractiveness of it were
proverbial through all the country.

Toukat was a place rather of pleasure than of strength, and yet it
was surrounded by a wall, and the governor of it determined to make an
effort to defend it. The garrison fought bravely, and they kept the
besiegers off for three days. At the end of that time the engines of
the Monguls had made so many breaches in the walls that the governor
was convinced that they would soon get in, and so he sent to Jughi to
ask for the terms on which he would allow them to surrender. Jughi
replied that he would not now make any terms with him at all. It was
too late. He ought to have surrendered at the beginning.

So the Mongul army forced its way into the town, and slaughtered the
whole garrison without mercy. Jughi then ordered all the inhabitants,
men, women, and children, to repair to a certain place on the plain
outside the walls. In obedience to this command, all the people went
to the appointed place. They went with fear and trembling, expecting
that they were all to be killed. But they found, in the end, that the
object of Jughi in bringing them thus out of the town was not to kill
them, but only to call them away from the houses, so that the soldiers
could plunder them more conveniently while the owners were away. After
being kept out of the town for a time they were allowed to return,
and when they went back to their houses they found that they had been
pillaged and stripped of every thing that the soldiers could carry
away.

There was another large and important town named Kojend. It was
situated two or three hundred miles to the northward of Samarcand, on
the River Sir, which flows into Aral Lake. The governor of this city
was Timur Melek. He was a very powerful chieftain, and a man of great
military renown, having often been in active service under the sultan
as one of the principal generals of his army. When Timur heard of