both. But at present
the executive power lay in the hands of the army, and the army was
being placated with gifts of rupees to the rank and file, and of
jewellery, swords, shawls, and robes of honour to the officers. The
army thereupon decided that the promises made in Kharrak Singh's name
had been kept, and that it would be worth waiting to see if he had more
largess to distribute before turning against him. The local Durbar,
seeing the course things were taking, adapted itself to circumstances
with great readiness, and paid its respects to the Rani Gulab Kur
through her curtain, having purged itself of the irreconcilables who
demanded an instant massacre and an open defiance of the English and of
their allies at Ranjitgarh.

No sooner was this peaceful settlement reached, than Gerrard received
peremptory orders to leave Charteris in charge at Agpur, and present
himself at Ranjitgarh, with all documents and witnesses bearing on the
case, that Sher Singh's claim and Partab Singh's testamentary
dispositions might be inquired into. If he had been a little inclined
to plume himself on the success he and Charteris had achieved, he was
now to meet with a wholesome corrective, for Colonel Antony was much
displeased with him, and showed it plainly. He had added infinitely to
the already overwhelming cares of the Resident at Ranjitgarh, and had
brought into close political union with the British power a province
which would have been much better left to itself. He should have drawn
back at once when Partab Singh showed signs of wishing to cultivate his
personal rather than his political friendship, and left the rival heirs
to settle things between themselves, instead of allowing himself to be
made the tool of an ambitious woman and a doating old man.

So convinced was Colonel Antony of the righteousness of Sher Singh's
cause that for once he overbore the opposition of his Durbar. The
Durbar considered that Partab Singh's recorded disinheritance of his
elder son, and the presumed reasons for it, which were known by hearsay
to every story-teller in Granthistan, were sufficient to bar his
recognition as regent and heir presumptive; but Colonel Antony thought
that the secrecy with which the Prince had been condemned, and the
absence of any documentary evidence, rendered it extremely probable
that his father had been misled by false information, and condemned him
unheard and innocent. Therefore the unwilling Durbar were imp