There still confronted him fourteen of the nobles
whose leader had been slain before their eyes, and who thirsted for
vengeance; but the appearance at his side of that faithful body-guard, on
whose fidelity the safety of the minister has more than once depended,
precluded them from seizing the murderer of their chief. It was but too
clear to those unhappy men what was to be the last act of this tragedy.
Jung received the rifle from the hand of the man next him, and levelled
it at the foremost of the little band. Fourteen times did that fatal
report ring through the hall as one by one the rifles were handed to one
who would trust no eye but his own, and at each shot another noble lay
stretched on the ground. Abiman Singh alone escaped the deadly aim; he
managed to reach the door, but there he was cut almost in two by the
sword of Krishn Bahadoor.

Thus, in a few moments, and by his own hand, had Jung rid himself of
those whom he most feared. In that one room lay the corpses of the
highest nobles of the land, shrouded by the dense smoke still hanging in
the confined atmosphere, as if to hide the horrors of a tragedy that
would not bear the light of day. The massacre now went on in all parts
of the building. One hundred and fifty sirdars perished on that eventful
night, and the panic was wide-spread and general. Before day had dawned
Jung Bahadoor had been appointed prime minister of Nepaul, and had placed
guards over the arsenal, treasury, and palace.

In the morning the troops were all drawn up on parade; before them were
placed, in a ghastly heap, the bodies of their late commanders, to which
Jung pointed, as he assured the army that it would find in him all that
it had ever found in them, and he consoled many of the officers in a
great measure for the loss they had just sustained by granting them
immediate promotion. It seems as easy for a daring adventurer to gain
the affections of an army in India as in Europe, and Jung found no
difficulty in reconciling his Ghorkas to a change of commanders, and they
have ever since professed the greatest devotion to his person.

The utmost caution was now necessary on the part of the new premier, who
was obliged still to be on his guard, lest the partisans of those whom he
had massacred should succeed in organizing a conspiracy against his life;
a sirdar was put to death simply because he had a private audience with
the King. Circumstances soon showed that Jung had good