ssassinate him. As a reward for
this service he received the seals of office; and the Raja
confiscated all the property of the deceased, amounting to four lakhs
of rupees[2] and resumed the whole of the estates held by the family.

The young Raja died soon after; and his father, when he resumed the
reins of government, wishing to remove the new minister, got him
assassinated by Gambhir Singh, another feudal Rajput baron, who, as
his reward, received in his turn the seals of office. This man was a
most atrocious villain, and employed the public establishments of his
chief to plunder travellers on the high road. In 1833 his followers
robbed four men, who were carrying treasure to the amount of ten
thousand rupees from Sagar to Jhansi through Tehri, and intended to
murder them; but, by the sagacity of one of the party, and a lucky
accident, they escaped, made their way back to Sagar, and complained
to the magistrate.[3] The[4] minister discovered the nature of their
burdens as they lodged at Tehri on their way, and sent after them a
party of soldiers, with orders to put them in the bed of a rivulet
that separated the territory of Orchha from that of the Jhansi Raja.
One of the treasure party discovered their object; and, on reaching
the bank of the rivulet in a deep grass jungle, he threw down his
bundle, dashed unperceived through the grass, and reached a party of
travellers whom he saw ascending a hill about half a mile in advance.
The myrmidons of the minister, when they found that one had escaped,
were afraid to murder the others, but took their treasure. In spite
of great obstacles, and with much danger to the families of three of
those men, who resided in the capital of Tehri, the magistrate of
Sagar brought the crime home to the minister, and the Raja, anxious
to avail himself of the occasion to fill his coffers, got him
assassinated. The Raja was then about eighty years of age, and his
minister was a strong, athletic, and brave man. One morning while he
was sitting with him in private conversation, the former pretended a
wish to drink some of the water in which his household god had been
washed (the 'chandan mirt'),[5] and begged the minister to go and
fetch it from the place where it stood by the side of the idol in the
court of the palace. As a man cannot take his sword before the idol,
the minister put it down, as the Raja knew he would, and going to the
idol, prostrated himself before it preparatory to taking a