corded. Kangra did not fall to the Mughal till the reign of the son
of Akbar.

Akbar had quitted the province of Gujarat believing that the conquest
of the province was complete, and that he had won by his measures the
confidence and affection of the people. But he had not counted
sufficiently on the love of rule indwelling in the hearts of men who
have once ruled. He had not been long at Agra, then, before the
dispossessed lordlings of the province began to raise forces, and to
harass the country. Determined to nip the evil in the bud, Akbar
prepared a second expedition to Western India, and despatching his
army in advance, set out, one Sunday morning in September, riding on
a swift dromedary, to join it. Without drawing rein, he rode seventy
miles to Toda, nearly midway between Jaipur and Ajmere. On the
morning of the third day he reached Ajmere, paid his usual devotions
at the tomb of the saint; then, mounting his horse in the evening,
continued his journey, and joined his army at Pali on the road to
Disa. Near Patan he was joined by some troops collected by his
lieutenants, {114} who had awaited the arrival of their sovereign to
advance.

His force was small in comparison with that which the rebel chiefs
had managed to enlist, but the men who formed it were the cream of
his army. The celerity of his movements too had served him well. The
rebels had not heard that he had quitted Agra when he was amongst
them. They were in fact sleeping in their tents near Ahmadabad when
Akbar, who had made the journey from Agra in nine days, was upon
them.

That there was chivalry in those days is shown by the remark of the
native historian, the author of the Tabakat-i-Akbari, 'that the
feeling ran through the royal ranks that it was unmanly to fall upon
an enemy unawares, and that they would wait till he was roused.' The
trumpeters, therefore, were ordered to sound. The chief rebel leader,
whose spies had informed him that fourteen days before the Emperor
was at Agra, still declared his belief that the horsemen before him
could not belong to the royal army as there were no elephants with
them. However he prepared for battle. The Emperor, still chivalrous,
waited till he was ready, then dashed into and crossed the river,
formed on the opposite bank, and 'charged the enemy like a fierce
tiger.' Another body of Mughal troops took them simultaneously in
flank. The shock was irresistible. The rebels were completely
defeated, their l