Falshaw, J.

1. This is a second appeal arising out of a suit instituted by the plaintiff-respondent Mst. Basant Kaur who is the daughter of one Sundar. The latter was adopted by Haku and on Hakus death Sundar succeeded to the land in suit measuring about 128 bighas. After Sundars death his widow Mst. Karmo succeeded him for her lifetime, but on her death the land was mutated in 1942 in favour of the present appellants who are the descendants of Chartu, the brother of Haku. Mst. Basant Kaur thereupon instituted a suit for possession of the land on the ground that she was entitled to inherit in preference to the defendants. The latter contested the suit and on the pleadings of the parties the following issues were framed :

(1) Is the land in suit ancestral qua the defendants?

(2) If issue No. 1 is not proved in defendants favour was the plaintiff a preferential heir of Sundar Singh?

(3) If issue No. 1 is proved in defendants favour, does not the land revert to the defendants till the extinction of the line of the adoptee?

The trial Court held that the land was not proved by the defendants to be ancestral qua themselves and Haku, but it is to be noted on this point that a numb