187
THE FALL OF GOLKONDA
rangzíb said that had Abu-l-Hasan possessed but one more servant as loyal as this, the siege might have gone on much longer. He sent a European and a Hindú surgeon to attend to the wounded man, and rejoiced when after sixteen days he at last opened his eyes. He showered favours upon the hero's sons, but nothing could shake the loyalty of the father. Lying on his sick bed, he said that 'no man who had eaten the salt of Abu-l-Hasan could enter the service of Aurangzíb.' Among the universal self-seeking of the Mughal Court, such faithfulness was rare indeed, and no one honoured it more sincerely than the Emperor who had never been disloyal to his standard of duty.
