ahomed Ali.
Now, on the death of Mussulman Kuli, who had given vitality to the
regime of Khudayar, Mullah Khan and his partisans began to intrigue once
more. Several Kipchak and Kirghiz leaders joined his cause, and Yakoob
Beg at once became one of his most active supporters. Khudayar Khan was
deposed, and retired into temporary seclusion. For his services to the
new ruler Yakoob Beg was made Shahawal, an officer corresponding to a
chamberlain or court intendant. He was soon restored to his old rank of
Kooshbege, and appointed governor of the frontier fort of Kurama, the
same place of which his father had been Kazi. And in 1860 he came still
more to the front, when he was summoned to Tashkent to assist Kanaat
Shah, the Nahib of Khokand, in making preparations in case the Russians,
who had for some time seemed to be threatening Khokand, should cross the
frontier. Mullah Khan was murdered at this time, having held the reins
of power but for the brief space of two years, and Khudayar Khan emerged
from his hiding place. He was welcomed both by Kanaat Shah and Yakoob
Beg; and in return for their support he consented to forget the past.
Yakoob Beg, as his reward, received the governorship of Kurama. It was
during these troubles that Alim Kuli, a Kirghiz chieftain, appeared upon
the scene. He possessed many of the attributes that distinguished his
predecessor Mussulman Kuli, and his successor, in the eyes of the
people, Yakoob Beg. He had undoubtedly a great capacity for intrigue,
but was inferior to the former in administrative capacity, and to the
latter in military skill. He now set Shah Murad, grandson of Shere Ali
Khan, up as a claimant to the throne, and was speedily joined by Yakoob
Beg, who once more abandoned the cause of Khudayar Khan, who, it must be
remembered, had always treated Yakoob Beg in a friendly way, and who in
their early days had been his boon companion. This conspiracy was
unsuccessful, and Yakoob Beg, who had yielded up Khodjent, with the
defence of which he had been entrusted by Alim Kuli, on the approach of
the forces of Khudayar Khan, took refuge in Bokhara. Here he was
favourably received, and resided as a noble attached to the court. In
1863 the Ameer of Bokhara, Muzaffur Eddin, marched a large army into
Khokand for the purpose of restoring his brother-in-law, Khudayar, to
the throne, for he had again been deposed by the intrigues of Alim Kuli;
Yakoob Beg accompanied this force, and once more appear