Vellore and Arcot. But his usurpation did
not last long. Even in those days there was a public conscience, and
the murder he had committed had been too brutal not to arouse
indignation. The army rose against him. Fearing for his life, he
disguised himself in woman's clothes, and escaped to Vellore.

On the flight of Murtiza Ali becoming known the army proclaimed
Saiyud Muhammad Khan, the son of Safdar Ali, then residing at Madras
under the protection of the English, to be Nawab. The young prince
and his mother were at once removed to the fort of Wandiwash, the
ruler of which had married his father's sister.

{28}It was this moment that Nizam-ul-Mulk chose as the time to
intervene. Entering Arcot at the head of a large army (March, 1743)
he completely pacified the province; then, marching on Trichinopoli,
compelled the Marathas to yield it and to evacuate the Karnatik.
Possessing himself of the person of the newly proclaimed Nawab, whom
he declined to recognize, he proclaimed his own commander-in-chief,
Khoja Abdullah, to be Nawab of the Karnatik, and then returned to
Golconda.

Unfortunately for the peace of the province Khoja Abdullah, a strong
man, never took up the government of the Karnatik. He had returned
with his master to Golconda, and had made there his preparations to
set out. On the very morning which he had chosen for that purpose he
was found dead in his bed. It was clear that he had been poisoned.
Suspicion fell at once upon the nobleman who had originally been an
urgent candidate for the office, and who now obtained it. He was an
experienced soldier of good family, whose name was Anwar-ud-din.

Nizam-ul-Mulk knew that the appointment would not be popular in the
province so long as there should remain alive any member of the
family of Saadat-ulla. He had therefore announced that the
appointment of Anwar-ud-din was provisional, and that the young
prince, Saiyud Muhammad, already proclaimed Nawab, should succeed to
that post on his arriving at the age of manhood, remaining during the
interval under the guardianship of Anwar-ud-din, {29}to be by him
instructed in the art of governing. Anwar-ud-din promised to carry
out the will of his liege lord, and on his arrival in the Karnatik,
assigned to the young prince the fort of Arcot, with a sufficient
retinue of Patan soldiers. There the boy remained, treated with the
deference due to his position.

But he was doomed. A few weeks after his arrival at Arcot i