so
suddenly appeared, slew or secured all his attendants, who were so
totally incapacitated, partly by the drink which they had taken, and
partly by their astonishment at the sudden appearance of so
overwhelming a force, that they were incapable of making any
resistance.

The princess, having thus accomplished her revenge, marshaled her men,
packed up her pretended presents, and returned in triumph home.

Such stories as these, related by the Asiatic writers, though they
were probably often much embellished in the narration, had doubtless
all some foundation in fact, and they give us some faint idea of the
modes of life and action which prevailed among these half-savage
chieftains in those times. Vang Khan himself was the grandson of
Mergus, who was sewed up in the sack. His father was the oldest son of
the princess who contrived the above-narrated stratagem to revenge her
husband's death. It is said that he used to accompany his father to
the wars when he was only ten years old. The way in which he formed
his friendship for Yezonkai, and the alliance with him which led him
to call Temujin his son and to refuse to take his wife away from him,
as already related, was this: When his father died he succeeded to the
command, being the oldest son; but the others were jealous of him, and
after many and long quarrels with them and with other relatives,
especially with his uncle, who seemed to take the lead against him, he
was at last overpowered or outmanoeuvred, and was obliged to fly.
He took refuge, in his distress, in the country of Yezonkai. Yezonkai
received him in a very friendly manner, and gave him effectual
protection. After a time he furnished him with troops, and helped him
to recover his kingdom, and to drive his uncle away into banishment in
his turn. It was while he was thus in Yezonkai's dominions that he
became acquainted with Temujin, who was then very small, and it was
there that he learned to call him his son. Of course, now that Temujin
was obliged to fly himself from his native country and abandon his
hereditary dominions, as he had done before, he was glad of the
opportunity of requiting to the son the favor which he had received,
in precisely similar circumstances, from the father, and so he gave
Temujin a very kind reception.

There is another circumstance which is somewhat curious in respect to
Vang Khan, and that is, that he is generally supposed to be the prince
whose fame was about this period