At the expiration of a week Ameer Ali sent word to me that he was ready
to resume his narrative, and I lost no time in requesting him to repair
to my residence. He arrived, and making his usual graceful obeisance, I
desired him to be seated.
The reader will perhaps like to know something of the appearance of the
man with whom he and I have had these long conversations; and no longer
to keep him in the dark on so important a subject, I will describe
Ameer Ali to him. He is what would be called a short man, about five
feet seven inches in height: his figure is now slender, which may be
the effect of his long imprisonment,--imprisonment it can hardly be
called, except that to one of his formerly free and unrestrained habits
and pursuits the smallest restraint must, of course, be irksome in the
highest degree, and painful to bear. His age may be about thirty-five
or forty years; but it sits lightly on him for a native of India; and
it has not in the least whitened a beard and mustachios on which he
evidently expends great care and pains, and which are always trimmed
and curled with the greatest neatness. His figure, as I have said, is
slight: but it is in the highest degree compact, agile, and muscular;
and his arms are remarkable for the latter quality, combined with
unusual length and sinewiness. His dress is always scrupulously neat
and clean, and put on with more attention to effect than is usual with
his brother approvers, his turban being always tied with a smart cock,
and his waist tightly girded with an English shawl or a gaily-dyed
handkerchief, where once a shawl of Cashmere or a handkerchief of
brocade was better suited to his pretensions. In complexion he is fair
for a native; his face is even now strikingly handsome, and leads
me to believe that the accounts of his youthful appearance have not
been exaggerated. His forehead is high and broad; his eyes large,
sparkling, and very expressive, especially when his eloquence kindles
and bursts forth in a torrent of figurative language, which it would
be impossible to render into English, or, if it were rendered, would
appear to the English reader, unused to such forms of speech, highly
exaggerated and absurd. His cheeks are somewhat sunken, but his nose
is aquiline and elegantly formed, and his mouth small and beautifully
chiselled, and his teeth are exquisitely white and even. His upper lip
is graced with a pair of small mustachios, which would be the envy of
many a gay lieutenant of hussars; while a beard close and wavy, from
which a straggling hair is never suffered to escape, descends nearly
to his breast, and hides a throat and neck which would be a study for
a painter or a sculptor. To complete all, his chest is very broad and
prominent, and well contrasts with the effect of his small waist.
His manner is graceful, bland, and polite--it is, indeed, more than
gentleman-like--it is courtly; and I have not seen it equalled even by
the Mahomedan noblemen, with many of whom I have associated. Any of
my readers who may have been in India, and become acquainted with its
nobles and men of rank, will estimate at once how high is the meed of
praise on this score which I give to Ameer Ali. His language is pure
and fluent, perhaps a little affected from his knowledge of Persian,
which, though slight, is sufficient to enable him to introduce words
and expressions in that language, often when they are not needed;
but still it is pure Oordoo; he prides himself upon it, and holds in
supreme contempt those who speak the corrupt patois of the Dukhun, or
the still worse one of Hindostan. Altogether Ameer Ali is a character,
and a man of immense importance in his own opinion, and that of every
one else; and the swagger which he has now adopted in his gait, but
which is evidently foreign to him, does not sit amiss on his now
reduced condition.
Reader, if you can embody these descriptions, you have Ameer Ali before
you; and while you gaze on the picture in your imagination, and look on
the mild and expressive face you may have fancied, you, as I was, would
be the last person to think that he was a professed murderer, and one
who in the course of his life has committed upwards of seven hundred
murders. I mean by this, that he has been actively and personally
engaged in the destruction of that number of human beings.
* * * * *
Now, Ameer Ali, said I, since I have finished describing your
appearance, I hope you are ready to contribute more to the stock of
adventures you have already related.
Your slave is ready, Sahib, he replied, and Inshalla Ta-alla! he will
not disappoint you. But why has my lord described my poor appearance,
which is now miserable enough? But might your slave ask what you have
written?--and the tone of his voice implied that he had concluded it
could not be favourable.
Listen, said I, and I will read it to you. At every sentence the
expression of his face brightened. When I had concluded, he said:--It
is a faithful picture, such as I behold myself when I look in a glass.
You have omitted nothing, even to the most trifling particulars; nay,
I may even say my lord has flattered me.--And he arose and made a
profound salam.
No, said I, I have not flattered your external appearance, which is
prepossessing; but of your heart I fear those who read will judge for
themselves; and their opinions will not be such as you could wish, but
such as you deserve.
You think my heart bad then, Sahib?
Certainly I do.
But it is not so, he continued. Have I not ever been a kind husband
and a faithful friend? Did I not love my children and wife while He
who is above spared them to me? and do I not even now bitterly mourn
their deaths? Where is the man existing who can say a word against
Ameer Ali's honour, which ever has been, and ever will remain, pure
and unsullied? Have I ever broken a social tie? ever been unfaithful
or unkind to a comrade? ever failed in my duty or in my trust? ever
neglected a rite or ceremony of my religion? I tell you, Sahib, the
man breathes not who could point his finger at me on any one of these
points. And, if you think on them they are those which, if rigidly
kept, gain for a man esteem and honour in the world.
But the seven hundred murders, Ameer Ali,--what can you say to them?
They make a fearful balance against you in the other scale.
Ah! those are a different matter, said the Thug, laughing--quite a
different matter. I can never persuade you that I was fully authorized
to commit them, and only a humble instrument in the hands of Alla.
Did I kill one of those persons? No! it was He. Had my roomal been a
thousand times thrown about their necks and the strength of an elephant
in my arms, could I have done aught--would they have died--without it
was His will? I tell you, Sahib, they would not--they could not; but
as I shall never be able to persuade you to think otherwise, and as
it is not respectful in me to bandy words with my lord, I think it is
time for me to recommence my tale, if he is ready to listen, for I
have still much to relate. I have been so minute in the particulars
of my first expedition, that perhaps I need not make the narrative of
the other events of my life so prolix; indeed, were I to do so, you,
Sahib, would be tired of writing and your countrymen of reading, for
it would be an almost endless task to follow me in every expedition I
undertook. I shall, therefore, with your permission, confine myself to
the narration of those which I think will most interest you, and which
I remember to possess remarkable incidents.
Go on, said I; I listen.
Well then, said the Thug, Khodawund must remember that I told him I
passed over three expeditions, and that I had partly determined to go
on the third. It is of that expedition I would now speak, as it was
marked by an extraordinary circumstance, which will show you at once
that it is impossible for any one to avoid his fate if it be the will
of Alla that he should die.
At the time I speak of I had been obliged to form another set of
intimates in consequence of the loss of Bhudrinath and Surfuraz Khan,
for both of whom I had the sincerest regard. Hoosein, though I loved
and revered him as my father's dearest friend, was now too old and
grave to participate in all my thoughts and perhaps wild aspirations
for distinction. So as Peer Khan and Motee-ram, with whose names you
are familiar, had now risen to my own rank, and proved themselves to
be "good men and true" in various expeditions, I took them into my
confidence, and we planned an enterprise, of which I was to be the
leader and they my subordinates. Fifty of the youngest, stoutest, and
most active and enterprising of our acquaintance were fixed on as the
band; and all having been previously warned, we met a few days before
the Dussera of the year 18--, in a grove near our village, which was
shady and well adapted for large assemblies, and was always used as a
place of meeting and deliberation: it was considered a lucky spot, no
unfortunate expedition ever having set out from it.
We were all assembled. It was a lovely morning, and the grass, as yet
not even browned by the sun and drought, was as if a soft and beautiful
carpet had been spread on purpose for us. The surrounding fields--many
of them tilled by our own hands--waved in green luxuriance, and the
wind, as it passed over them in gentle gusts, caused each stalk of tall
jowaree to be agitated, while the sun shining brightly, made the whole
glitter so that it was almost painful to look on for a continuance.
Birds sang in the lofty banian trees which overshadowed us; hundreds of
green parroquets sported and screamed in their branches, as they flew
from bough to bough, some in apparent sport, others to feed on the now
ripening berries of the trees; and the whole grove resounded with the
cooing of innumerable turtle-doves, whose gentle and loving murmurs
soothed the turbulence of the heart, and bade it be at peace and rest
and as happy as they were.
My father and Hoosein were present to guide us by their counsels
and experience, and the matter in hand was commenced by a sacrifice
and invocation to Bhowanee; but as I have before described these
ceremonies, it is needless to repeat them; suffice it to say that
the omens were taken and were favourable in the highest degree; they
assured us, and though I had little faith in them notwithstanding all I
had heard to convince me of their necessity, they inspirited the whole
band, and I partook of the general hilarity consequent upon them. My
father opened the object of the meeting in a short address. He said
he was old and no longer fitted for the fatigues and privations of a
journey; he recapitulated all I had done on the former expedition,
pointed out the various instances in which I had displayed activity,
daring, and prudence beyond my years, and concluded by imploring the
men to place implicit confidence in me, to obey me in all things as
though he himself were present, and above all not to give way to any
disposition to quarrel among themselves, which would infallibly lead to
the same disastrous results as had overtaken the expedition which had
gone out the previous year.
They one and all rose after this address, and by mutual consent swore
on the sacred pickaxe to obey me--the most impressive oath they could
take, and any deviation from which they all firmly believed would draw
down the vengeance of our Protectress upon them and lead to their
destruction. I will not occupy your time, Sahib, by a narration of what
I myself said; suffice it to say, I proposed that the band should take
the high road to the Dukhun, and penetrate as far as Jubbulpoor or
Nagpoor; from thence we would take a direction eastward or westward, as
hope of booty offered, and so return to our home. Khândésh I mentioned
as being but little known to us Thugs, and where I thought it likely we
might meet with good booty, as I had heard that the traders of Bombay
were in the habit of sending large quantities of treasure to their
correspondents in Malwa for the purchase of opium and other products
of that district. I concluded by assuring them that I had a strong
presentiment of great success, that I felt confidence in myself, and
that, if they would only follow me faithfully and truly, we might
return in a few months as well laden with spoil as we had on the former
occasion.
Again they rose and pledged their faith; and truly it was a solemn
sight to see those determined men nerve themselves for an enterprise
which might end happily, but which exposed them to fearful risk of
detection, dishonour, and death.