"That is a Bhula Admee (a respectable man)," said I to the Potail, as
he walked to our camp; "he suits my purpose exactly."
"He has been on the look-out for some of you," said he, "for a long
time. We have never spoken openly on the subject, but he has hinted as
much many times. And I suspect he chose this post, if he had any choice
in the matter, because he was likely to meet Thugs here. If you pay him
well, he will help you materially."
"Do you think I have given enough?" said I.
"Quite," he replied: "I don't think he expected you would agree to so
much."
"It is certainly a large sum," said I; "but it is the first, and the
money is well spent."
"But you have forgotten me, Meer Sahib: am I not to partake of your
bounty?"
"Of course, Potailjee. What I brought was only a trifle--I have more
for you in the camp; you shall have your share."
"How much, Meer Sahib? I want money; my rents are in arrears, and I am
in distress."
"Thirty rupees," said I.
"Make it fifty, I beseech you. You know not in what a strait I am;
I cannot borrow the money, and you have been sent by Alla for my
deliverance. You will lend me the money if you will not give it me? and
you will have good bunij in this business."
"Well," said I, "you shall have it, but on one condition. We may not
be on the road when some people whom we are looking out for pass this
place: they are Dacoos; they have some Tattoos with them, and great
wealth. If they pass either way, you must send men after us with a
letter."
"I will send my own sons, well mounted," replied he; "they will easily
find you out, and you may depend on me. Where will these fellows come
from?"
"They have gone to Hyderabad now," said I, "and will return by Nagpoor.
If we meet them, all very well; but they may escape us."
"They shall not, by Alla!" said the Potail. "I will watch for them
myself, and if you get them I shall hope for a handsome present."
"I will not forget you. But here we are at the camp: take care no one
sees the money as you carry it away."
"Trust an old hand for that," said he, with a knowing wink. "I must go
after I have got it to the Moonshee, who has sent for me about fodder
for his horses. I should like to see him, too--to see a man whose
breath is in his nostrils. And he has a wife too."
"Yes," said I, "there is no getting her out of the way, so she must
die, which is a pity. He has a child also, about, four years old, which
I want myself: he is a pretty boy, and I have no son to bless me; he
will never know the difference between me and his father after a few
days."
I paid the money, and dismissed him. Ganesha came to me. "I have
been looking at the ground," said he, "and there is a hole near
the Moonshee's tent, which has been dug for some purpose or other,
apparently the commencement of a well; it will save us the trouble of
digging; the earth, too, lies close to it, and will only have to be
filled in."
"Have the Lughaees seen it?" said I.
"Yes," he replied; "I took Bhowanee with me; he says it is the very
thing."
"Now, Ganesha," said I, "how shall we manage?"
"Oh, do you take the tent-work, and leave the rest to me; I will settle
all outside. You have a smooth tongue, and the Moonshee is alone; I
will be close at hand in case of anything going wrong; but I do not
apprehend anything."
"Nor I either. None of the Saeeses or camel men must escape; there are
many of them."
"Sixteen in all; I have counted them: let me see--eight bearers, two
camel men,--one of them has a wife,--two Khidmutgars, one female
servant, and four Saeeses; how many is that?"----"Eighteen," said I.
"Ah, well, it does not matter; towards evening I will surround the
whole; most of them will be listening to the songs, and the rest we
must overpower in the best way we can. The night will be dark too,
which is in our favour."
I then told him of the horsemen in the village, and what I had done.
He knew Hittah Singh, the Duffadar, and told me that in his excursions
into the district of Arrah, in Bengal, he had met with him; and that on
one occasion, when he had been arrested for murder, this Hittah Singh
had got him off, by swearing to the collector that he knew him, and by
being security for him to a large amount. "He is a good fellow for a
Bhojpooree," said Ganesha, "but requires to be well paid, and you have
given him enough to keep him quiet."
The evening came. My father and I went to the Moonshee's, but after the
evening prayer time; he had his son on his knee, and a noble little
fellow he was. How I shall love that boy! said I, inwardly, as I looked
on his fair and beautiful features and expressive eyes. He came to
me readily, and I fondled him, and displayed to his admiring eyes my
beautiful sword and dagger. Azima too will love him, thought I, and he
will supply the place of our daughter when she is married and gone from
us.
"You have no children?" said the Moonshee; "or perhaps I ought not to
ask, you may have lost them; your brow darkens at the question."
"One," replied I, "a daughter. A son, the counterpart of the Sahib
Zada, it pleased Allah to take from me, when he was about his age."
"It is indeed his will," said the Moonshee; "there is no striving
against fate. This boy is my only offspring; for many years I had been
married, and my case was somewhat like that of the Sultan in the 'Story
of the Parrot;' grey hairs were coming, and I despaired; but at last
Alla was gracious, and you see the boy."
"May God grant he live a hundred years, and be prosperous," said I, "I
have no hope myself."
We conversed together for some time, and on a message being given from
without, I said, "You have been so pleased with the singing of some of
my men, Moonshee Sahib, that they have arranged a little masque, after
the manner of the Byroopeas, which they are anxious to perform before
you. It will be absurd enough, I dare say, yet it will serve to pass
the evening, and your son too may be amused."
"By all means," said he; "anything in the jungle is acceptable; but
for your company, Meer Sahib, we should have had a dull march. I will
prepare those within, so pray call in the performers."
The men came, six stout fellows dressed fantastically, two of them as
women, with sitars and drums in their hands; they personated a body of
Goosaeens, and danced and sang in a ridiculous manner. Where they had
learned their parts, I know not, but the whole was well done, and the
Moonshee's little son laughed immoderately. As we had expected, the
whole of the Moonshee's people gathered round the tent, which was open
on one side to admit of their seeing the Tumasha; and I observed with
secret exultation that every man had two or three Thugs close to him,
and one in particular behind each of them. All was ready, as I thought,
and I was about to give the signal, when one of the Thugs called to me
that I was wanted without. What it could be I knew not, but, excusing
myself for a moment, I went out.
"What shall we do?" said Ganesha to me, in a voice full of alarm and
apprehension; "Meer Sahib, the Feringhees are upon us!"
"The Feringhees!"----"Yes," he replied; "and what can we do? this good
bunij will escape us. Of course the Moonshee will join them, and we may
then as well think of strangling the king of Delhi, as of getting him."
"But how," said I, "how are the Feringhees upon us? Have you seen them?"
"No," said Ganesha, "but I have seen their people. A long string of
camels have just arrived, with I know not how many red-coated sepoys to
guard them--my curse be on them all!"
"And where are they?"
"Why, they are gone into the village. They wanted this ground, but I
told them I would not give it up; that the Moonshee was a gentleman of
rank, and could not be disturbed, and that there was better ground on
the other side of the village."
"Then never fear," said I; "the work must be done immediately. I will
go in and give the jhirnee; and if any of those prying rascals the
Lascars come about us, you know what to do. But I fear not; the Potail
will help us, and Hittah Singh too, and there need be no great noise.
My father will have to personate the Moonshee for a while if necessary;
but that does not matter."
"Good," said Ganesha; "but be quick, Meer Sahib, I shall be in a
torment of apprehension until the whole are fairly under the ground."
I left him, and, carelessly playing with my roomal, again entered the
tent. "What is it?" asked the Moonshee.
"Oh, nothing," I replied; "only some Sahib-logues' tents which have
arrived. Their servants wanted this ground to encamp on, but, seeing us
here, the Lascars have taken them to the other side of the village. The
troops will be here early to-morrow."
"That will suit me exactly," said he; "I will stay with them, and bid
you gentlemen farewell; but that is no reason why we should be the less
merry. I warrant these good fellows have another song or two in store.
Have you?" he asked of them.
"A hundred," replied one of them; "but perhaps the next will be rather
a noisy one."
"Never mind," said he, "play on; you shall have as good a reward as I
can afford to bestow."
I waited till the noise was at its height to give the jhirnee, yet I
had not the opportunity I wished for. The Moonshee sat with his back to
the kanât, and to get behind him was impossible: one of the Thugs saw
my embarrassment, and relieved it by begging him to rise and advance a
few paces.
"What are they going to do?" asked he.
"I know not," I replied, "but you had as well comply."
He arose, and I slipped behind him. "Now!" I shouted; "bring the pan!"
and my hand was on the Moonshee's neck. One wild shriek he gave, and
fell. His wife had been looking on through a hole in the kanât; she had
seen the work, and rushed out into the midst of us, with her boy in her
arms. I shall never forget her--never: I shall never forget her wild
look and her screams. I tore the boy from her arms, and left her in the
midst of the Thugs; I ran out into the air, and the first person I met
was Ganesha, his face flushed with triumph, which I saw by the glare of
the torches from the tent.
"All is done!" cried he; "they have all fallen. Two I killed myself.
Where are the Lughaees? we must be quick."
He ran on; and I stood in the open space before the tent. Parties of
Thugs passed rapidly to and fro, bearing the bodies of the dead, which
were one by one thrown into the hole. But the singing and music went on
as merrily as ever, and looking into the tent I saw my father sitting
in the place which had been occupied by the ill-fated Moonshee.
My little charge was crying terribly, imploring me, in tones and words
that would have moved any one's heart but mine, to take him to his
mother. I soothed him as well as I could, and was going to my tent; but
curiosity impelled me to return and see the hole in which the business
of interment was going on. I went to the edge; Ganesha was standing by
it encouraging the Lughaees; he saw the boy in my arms.
"What folly is this, Meer Sahib?" said he; "you are not going to spare
that boy, when we are even now in such danger!--it will be madness.
Give him to me; I will silence the crying wretch, and send him with his
parents."
"Never!" cried I; "the boy is mine; you may have all the spoil, but
give him up to death I will not. Have I not lost a son, and is it not
lawful to adopt a child of this age?"
"Madness! madness!" cried Ganesha, "the boy must die. Are you a fool,
Meer Sahib, to risk such a chance?"
"He will never find out the difference between us and his parents,"
said I; "and I will not be interfered with."
"Fool!" said Ganesha, setting his teeth, "I spared a child once, and
will never spare another; I have sworn it on the pickaxe."
"I care not for a thousand oaths," I cried; "the boy is mine, and you
had better not oppose me if you wish to avoid a quarrel;" and I was
going away.
He caught me by the arm. "Let me go," I exclaimed, and I felt for my
dagger, "or by Alla! I will strike this steel into you."
"Boy," cried he, "you are mad; I fear you not; talk of daggers to
others than Ganesha; he has seen too much of you to fear you. Give me
the child, I say, his very cries will alarm the sepoys."
I felt for my dagger or sword, but I had left them in the tent; I tried
if pity could move him. "Have you no compassion?" I said more gently:
"Ganesha, have you no pity for a child? Can you bear to kill him?"
I was off my guard, and he saw his opportunity. Quicker than thought he
had rudely snatched the child from my arms, and as he hurled him into
the pit, he cried scornfully, "Pity! no, I know it not. Now go and cry,
Meer Sahib, for the loss of your plaything."
I started forward, and leaned over the edge of the hole, which was
being rapidly filled; the poor boy lay senseless and dead at the
bottom--one shriek alone had escaped him as he was dashed with
passionate force into it. I gazed for an instant to satisfy myself that
he was dead, and some of the earth which was being thrown in hid him
almost instantly from my view.
I turned to Ganesha in savage anger. "Dog!" cried I, "and son of a dog!
you shall answer for this. Had I my sword now with me, I would cut you
in two pieces."
"An idle threat, and one befitting what I have heard of you," said he.
"Go, Meer Sahib, you are a boy and a fool: I do not fear you."
Stony-hearted villain, he had destroyed my son. Situated as I was I
could then do nothing, but I was determined to have my revenge: and I
took it too. I mentioned what had occurred to my father and to three of
my intimate associates; they were determined to stick by me whenever I
chose to attack Ganesha, and would fain have done so the next day; but
this did not suit me, though his words rankled in my heart, and the
deed he had done made me hate him more than ever. I deferred my revenge
to the last moment, but I took it, as you shall hear.
We stayed on the ground that night; the palankeen had been broken in
pieces and thrown into the hole, but my father personated the Moonshee
the next morning as we rode through the camp of the Feringhees, which
had been pitched so near us, that indeed I have often wondered they
heard not the cries of the party as we despatched them. But we had
taken good precautions. The noise of the drums, and the confusion
occasioned by letting loose two of the Moonshee's horses, which were
here and there pursued by a number of Thugs, shouting and screaming
after them, had drowned the cries of our victims, and we had effected
the whole without suspicion. Our good friends, the Potail and the
Duffadar, had kept the sepoys in conversation, and they had not noticed
the noise, beyond hazarding a passing remark as to its cause.
Again, therefore, we were on the road. We had not got all the booty
we expected, it did not indeed amount to three thousand rupees, and
we earnestly looked out for the Dacoos, who were we hoped to be our
next bunij. We went on to Nagpoor, and sold the Moonshee's camels and
horses. Here the gang divided; one part under a Jemadar named Emom
Buksh, took our old road towards Oomraotee, and through the valley of
Berar to Khândésh and Boorhanpoor; the rest of us returned by the road
we had come, after staying four days in the city of Nagpoor. On our
second or third march homewards we overtook the Dacoos. They had been
seen by our spies the moment we entered the village we had encamped at;
and as much caution was requisite in managing them, my father at once
proposed to be alone the Sotha, or inveigler.
"I shall feign to be a Hindoo," said he; "these rascals will suspect
me if I go by my own name, and indeed they would know me. I will be
a Rajpoot Jemadar, come from Hyderabad, and you shall see I have not
forgotten my old trade."
Accordingly he painted his forehead and breast after the fashion of
the Hindoos, covered his eyes with wood ashes, put on a waistcloth and
dress he borrowed from one of the men, and attended by another, went
into the village.
How anxiously I expected his return! I feared he would fail in his
mission, but Ganesha was confident. "He never fails," said he to me;
"he is one of Bhowanee's own favourites; nothing he ever did failed.
Would that I had his luck."
But he was absent so long that I became apprehensive for his safety,
and was on the point of setting out to gain tidings of him, when to my
great joy I saw him approaching. I ran to meet him. "What news?" cried
I; "oh, my father, my liver has been burnt during your absence. Why did
you stay so long?"
"Never mind, my son," said he, when he had dismounted, "you would
have been wrong to come after me. But ah, the owls! I have entrapped
them--they are ours."
"Ul-humd-ul-illa!" cried I, "this is rare news; but how did you manage
it?"
"Why," replied he, "it was done easily enough, though I feared for my
success when I saw that one of the Dacoos was a fellow I had known a
long time ago; however, he did not recognize me, thanks to my white
beard and these marks of the infidels; he never thought I was Ismail
Thug. I sat and conversed with their leader, who told me very gravely
he was a servant of the English, going to Hindostan on leave of
absence. I said I was one also, and had come from Jalna, where I was a
collector of duties on spirits. We then became intimate, and the upshot
of the whole was, that we agreed to travel together; and, by Alla! if
the omens are good, they shall die to-morrow. Delay is useless with
these fellows, for they evidently think (from the signs I saw them
making among themselves, which are known to me), that we are certain
bunij to them, and if we do not attack them, they will fall upon us."
"We shall need good hands," said I; "and I will take the leader."
"I will be a Bhuttote also," said Ganesha; "I never killed a Dacoo. Are
they stout fellows?"
"Very," answered my father; "but, like all their tribe, they are
heavily armed, and can do but little against us, if we manage properly."
"We had better fall on them with our swords," I observed.
"Not so, my son; but we will surround them, and if there is not a good
opportunity, the men can use their weapons."
We were soon agreed on this point; and in the morning the Dacoos
joined us as we moved round the village into the main road. They were
twenty-five in number, stout, but heavy-looking men, armed to the
teeth, with their heads enveloped in folds of cloth. They had with them
thirteen tattoos, heavily laden; and it was well that they had this
encumbrance, as it served to separate them, as each tattoo required a
man to drive it. Had they kept in a body, we could have made but little
impression on them, and dared hardly to have attacked them.
"Now, look out!" said my father to the men; "if you see them leaving
their beasts, and collecting in two and threes, fall on them at once,
or they will attack us: they know well enough who we are, though they
pretend they do not."
We journeyed on in company; after I had ridden for some distance I
dismounted, and walking beside the leader, I entered into conversation
with him. He did not recognize me in the least, and very gravely began
telling me how he had met with Thugs on his way down; how he had fought
with and overpowered a large band, and carried off their plunder,
amounting to some thousand rupees.
I could have struck him on the mouth with my shoe, but I refrained; yet
it was enough to have provoked me, being so barefaced a lie. Still I
applauded his bravery, and he continued: "Yes, Meer Sahib, these Thugs
are the greatest villains unhung; and I praise the Prophet that I have
gained some information about them, which I will give to my masters
the Europeans. The fool of a Thug, or rather one of his people, told
me they belonged to Jhalone; I am going that way, and if I do not tell
the Rajah of their being in his city, call me an owl, and a father of
jackasses. I expect, too, he will reward me handsomely."
Ay, you will tell him, thought I; but you must get there first, my
friend. Mashalla! words are one thing, but deeds are another.
"And were they such fools?" I asked; "all the world say that Thugs are
never to be taken in."
The fellow laughed scornfully. "Never taken in!" said he; "did not
I deceive them? They are swine, they are asses; they murder poor
travellers, but they have no wit, not so much as children. Their fool
of a Jemadar tried to deceive me by wrapping his face in a cloth; but I
saw him, dark as it was, and could swear to him among a thousand."
"What was he like?" inquired I; "I am curious to know, if it were only
to avoid him in future, especially as I am a constant traveller on this
road: but you said you attacked them?"
"Yes," said he; "I am an old traveller too, and as we were a large
body, and the Thugs not more than treble our number, I said to my
companions, that though I knew we were with Thugs, they ought not to
fear, and if they would only watch me, we might attack and disperse
them, and get their plunder: and by Alla! we did Sahib. Late at night
we rose on them, killed some, and the rest ran away, among them
the cowardly Jemadar. We got enough, too, to take us to Hyderabad
comfortably."
So we had a narrow escape, thought I; these fellows would have attacked
us, I doubt not, had we not gone on that night. But the lie, Sahib,
was it not an impudent one? Yet I could not help laughing heartily at
his relation, which he swore was true, by Alla and the Prophet, by my
beard, and by every saint in his calendar.
We trudged on till we came in sight of two trees on the road, on which
travellers hung bits of rag as offerings to the guardian saint of the
place. I saw very plainly that this was their bhil; one by one they
began to forsake their tattoos and collect. More delay on our part
would have been fatal, and my father saw this. He was as prompt as I
could have desired: he had seen their movements, and just as I had
disengaged my roomal from my waist, he gave the jhirnee. Eleven of
the Dacoos fell at the same moment; the leader by my hand. I had my
roomal round his throat, and before I gave the fatal wrench, I shouted
in his ear that I was Ameer Ali, the leader of the Thugs he had met,
and that _then_ I had sworn to kill him, and had done it. The rest
were cut down with swords: my men were prepared, they were not, and
were heavily encumbered. Yet had we delayed for another three or four
hundred paces, they would have fallen upon us; and I think, Sahib, the
Thugs would have run away. As it was, however, we were victorious; we
threw the bodies as they were into the jungle, and pushed on, laughing
heartily, and in the highest spirits at the issue of our adventure. The
booty, too, was good--thirteen thousand rupees worth of gold, silver,
and ready money met our admiring eyes, when the packages of the loaded
tattoos were opened for our inspection.
Well, Sahib, we had proceeded as far as Sehora on our return, when we
fell in with a great European, who was also travelling. We did not
fear him, but on the contrary determined to keep with him, because
we well knew that he had many travellers in his train who profited
by the protection of his troops; so we divided into two parties, one
under myself and my father, the other under Ganesha. Our object was to
separate the travellers from him, and we hoped, by representing the
inconvenience they were put to by delay on account of his slow marches,
and the scarcity of provisions they would experience on the road, to
induce them to accompany us. I need not follow the adventure further,
for it differed not from the rest; suffice it to say, that after a few
marches a large party of travellers had joined with us. We left the
high-road to proceed by footpaths through the jungles, and near the
village of Shirkarpoor we selected the bhil. The place was a favourite
one, and well known to our party. The travellers fell, twenty-nine
men, some women and children; all were buried in one grave, for the
spot where they were killed was a desolate one. The deed was done in
the night, but by the light of as fair a moon as ever shone on us.
One child I saved from the general slaughter; Ganesha was not present
to oppose me; and though the boy was a Hindoo, yet I determined to
adopt him as my own, and to bring him up in the holy faith I professed
myself, and this would enhance the merit of having spared him. But when
his mother died, I could not force him away from the body; he clung
to it, young as he was, with frantic force--he screamed and kicked
whenever I attempted to lay hold of him, and bit me in the arms and the
hands. I thought if the body was removed from his sight he would be
quiet and submit to his fate; but no--when it was gone, he grew worse
and worse; nothing would pacify or tranquillize him, and I fairly grew
impatient and angry. I drew my sword, and threatened him but he was
insensible to his danger; he reviled me, he spat at me with a child's
virulence. I once more raised him up in my arms, but it was of no use;
he seized my ear in his teeth and bit it till the blood came. In the
agony of the pain and in my rage I knew not what I did. Sahib, how
shall I tell you what followed! it was the worst act of my life but
one, which I have yet to tell you of.
You killed him, I suppose, Ameer Ali, said I.
Yes, Sahib, I killed him; but oh, how did I do it! it was the devil's
work, not mine. I never was cruel, but now the Shitan possessed me.
Here Ameer Ali put his hands to his eyes, and finding my heart sicken,
I begged him to refrain from reciting the dreadful particulars. After a
pause he continued.
Wretch that I was, I did this. No one was near me but the Thug who held
my horse, and even he was horror-struck, and uttered a loud scream of
terror. I silenced him, and leaving the mangled body, I mounted my
horse and galloped after my party.
Yes, Sahib, I deserved to be hanged for that deed, had I never done
another; but I was spared for a different fate.
We were in full march on the third day after this happened, when we saw
a body of horsemen coming after us. My mind misgave me when I observed
them, and I hastened to collect the straggling Thugs, and form them
into a close body, in case the horsemen should prove to be enemies, or
make any hostile demonstration. On they came, shouting and abusing us
in every term of vile reproach their tongues could utter. There were
about forty of them; and I verily believe that, had I not been at the
head of the band, they would have fled as one man: however, I cheered
them up, and was determined to show a good front in my retreat. I knew
there was a village in our interest within a few coss, which possessed
a worthy Potail like him I have told you of; and that if we could but
reach it, we might man the walls and towers, and bid defiance to our
pursuers.
"Be not afraid," cried I to my men; "let the best of ye come behind
with me, and we will stop these marauding rascals. I know they are
Pindharees, and the veriest cowards in existence. Only be firm; you who
have matchlocks take good aim, and when they are near enough, every one
mark his man, and see if as many saddles are not emptied."
On they came. Fortunately the road was narrow, and had thick thorny
brushwood on each side of it, so that they could not pass us. They were
within speaking distance, and I shouted, "Are ye friends or enemies?
If the former, keep behind us; if enemies, begone, in the name of the
Prophet, my friends, or ye are likely to get a sharp reception."
"Stop!" shouted the leader of the party; "who among you is leader? I
would speak to him."
"I am leader," said I. "Come out alone, and I will meet you; but if
any of ye stir, by Alla we will fire on you." The fellow advanced, and
seeing that none followed him, I rode out in front of my men. "If
there is treachery," said I to them, "fire,--never mind me."
"Jemadar," said the man, "our Thakoor has sent for you, you may
possibly have guessed why. You had better come; you will only have to
pay a fine, and will be released; I swear this to you on the faith of a
Rajpoot."
"I will neither trust you nor your master," said I; "you are a parcel
of vagabond Pindharees. I laugh at you, and spit on your beards. If you
want us, come and take us; but of our own accord we come not. Are we
fools? are we asses? Oh, man! art _thou_ one to talk thus? Go back to
him that sent thee, and say the man is yet unborn who will take Ameer
Ali Thug, so long as he has a weapon in his hand, or a few gallant
fellows by his side. Have you no shame to deliver such a message!"
He made no answer, but urged his horse and cut at me with his sword.
Fool! he did not think that a Thug could fight, and still less that he
had engaged one whom no one had ever yet defeated. I caught the blow on
my shield, and returned it on his head as he passed me; the fellow fell
front his horse a dead man.
My own men set up a shout, and discharged their matchlocks--one
horseman and a horse fell wounded, and struggled in the dust. Had only
my own good companions in the Pindharee affairs been with me, I would
have charged them, and put them to flight; but I could do nothing
alone. We had checked them, however, and retired slowly, followed by
the troop, who kept out of shot, but evidently waiting for a piece of
level and fair ground to charge us. In this way we retreated till the
welcome walls of the village, whither I had directed the main body,
appeared to our view. We redoubled our efforts to gain the shelter they
would afford us, and the men were in some disorder as we passed over a
level plain in front of the village; they were even beginning to run,
but I checked them. "For the love of Alla!" cried I, "for your own
sakes keep together, and have brave hearts; so long as we are firm they
will not dare to come near us; but if once we separate, we are lost.
See, even now they are preparing to charge, as a hawk stoops on his
quarry."
And down they came, thundering along, brandishing their spears, and
reviling us. Some of my men fled at their utmost speed to the gate, but
most of them stood. Again I dashed at one of our enemies, and wounded
him; but the odds were against us; one of my own men fell, pierced
through the breast to the backbone by a spear; another was wounded;
but they could not take further advantage of us. Those who had fled,
joined by others of my men and some villagers, headed by my brave old
father, issued from the gate, which the horsemen seeing, they drew off,
and we got within the village in safety. They kept hovering about till
mid-day, but out of the reach of our shot; and soon after noon, they
all departed, and we saw no more of them. We had to pay for our shelter
handsomely, however, for the Potail shut the gates of his village, and
declared we should not pass out without having paid him a thousand
rupees. I was for attacking him, plundering his village, and burning
it after the Pindharee fashion; and we could have done it easily. But
my father would not hear of it. "The country would rise on us," he
said; "and besides, it would ill requite the Potail's hospitality and
protection, even though we had to pay for it." So he paid the money;
and, after a thousand protestations of mutual goodwill, we left the
village in the evening, intending to push on as far as we could, to be
beyond the reach of pursuit.
Nor were we followed; though this exploit made a noise in the country,
and was known far and wide, we were not molested. We heard afterwards
that the Thakoor flew into a furious passion when he heard of his men's
defeat, and dismissed them from his service as a parcel of cowards, as
indeed they were. Moreover, he swore he would be revenged upon every
Thug he might ever catch afterwards; and I believe he kept his word,
and put some to death. But we laughed at his beard; and many a merry
jest had we over the adventure afterwards.
It seems, the day after, some herdsmen were passing the spot where the
travellers had been killed and they saw the body of the lad lying in
the road: all the remains were discovered, and information was given to
the ruler of the village and tract of country in which the deed had
been done. We pursued our route. Ganesha, too, had been fortunate; he
had decoyed a large body of travellers, consisting of a Jemadar who had
lost an arm, and his family, with some others, along the by-paths in
another direction, and he had killed them all.
You know, Sahib, that it is forbidden to us to kill persons who may in
any way be deformed. I was amused afterwards to hear the accounts which
were given of the deliberations made upon the Jemadar's fate by Ganesha
and his gang: he told them to me himself when we met.
"Some, indeed most of the men," said he, "hesitated as to whether
he should be strangled or not. There was no means of separating him
from the party, and they said the whole ought to be abandoned on his
account, as he had lost an arm, and therefore was not a fit sacrifice
to Bhowanee. I replied that he was not deformed, that if he had lost
an arm, he had had one once, and the losing of it was not the work of
Alla but of man, and that when he died he would appear in the form in
which he had been created; therefore he was not forbidden, but was
true bunij; and I asked them how they would show their faces to you
and to their brethren at the rendezvous with no deed to boast of, and,
more than all, no plunder. I prevailed; the whole were strangled; the
Jemadar by my own hand, for no one else would touch him, despite of
all I said to convince them there was no harm in it. The worst of all
was, however, that there were two young girls of a marriageable age,
the daughters of the Jemadar. Two of my men took a fancy to them, and
would fain have carried them off to be their wives, but they would not
consent, and they were strangled with the rest."
We were now somewhat at a loss for a route, or whither to go. The
omens were consulted at Saugor, which was our place of rendezvous;
and as they pointed to the northward, we struck off the high-road to
the north at Saugor, and took that to Seronje. But my father returned
to Jhalone. We divided into two bodies, each a day's march from the
other, for we were fearful of being suspected if we travelled in large
numbers; and since the Europeans had got a footing in the country, we
found that we were asked more questions at the different posts and
guards than we had used to be. Besides, large bodies of travellers
had disappeared in various directions by the hands of other bands of
Thugs, and the authorities were suspicious and inquisitive to a degree.
However, now with bullying, now with bribes, we contrived to pass on,
leaving our fruit as we went in many a sly place, which the Choukedars
never suspected; and although we got no large booty, yet scarcely a day
passed but one, two, or more travellers met their death at our hands.
It was at the village of Ekléra, in Holkar's dominions (alas! I shall
never forget it), that our Sothas brought us word they had secured a
small party of travellers, who they had heard were about to proceed to
a village a few coss distant.
Of course our men told them of the danger of travelling alone, of the
alarms there were of Thugs, and begged of them to accompany our large
party for safety, which had collected for the same purpose, and they
consented. The Sothas offered to introduce them to me as the leader of
the Kafila; and accordingly, at sunset, one of them returned to the
bazar, and brought two of the men to me. I received them cordially,
repeated the same stories as my men had done, and frightened them quite
sufficiently for my purpose.
"Listen," said one; "though I have never seen a Thug, nor know of any
existing in this part, yet that they have been here there is no doubt.
My wife's father was killed by them."
"How!" said I; "it is horrible to think on; how did this happen? know
you aught of the particulars?"
"No," replied he, "none but what I have heard from others. I was
a boy at the time, but the old men of the village know them well,
and often speak of them even to this day. I will introduce you to
my father-in-law, as I justly call him, and he shall tell you the
tale himself. Mashalla! he tells it with much spirit, and 'tis worth
hearing."
I confess I was interested; why I should have been so at a common tale
of Thuggee was more than I can imagine. I rose and followed the man to
his house, determined to hear the whole story from his father-in-law's
mouth.
I have said it was yet day; the sun was setting and the village was
a scene of bustle and noise, as is always the case in an evening;
the herds which had been out to graze were pouring in at the gates,
raising clouds of dust, through which the walls were but dimly seen.
Yet still as I advanced I fancied them familiar to me; I imagined I
knew the names of different places near them,--one in particular, the
abode of a Fakeer, around which was a small garden. I almost started
when I approached it, for it seemed like the face of a familiar friend
one meets after a long, long absence, when one hesitates to accost
him by name, though almost assured of his identity. But in spite of
my desire to know the name of the garden I walked on, for it would
not have suited my purpose to have appeared to recognize any object,
having represented myself to be an utter stranger. As we passed
through the gate, objects more and more familiar to my eyes presented
themselves,--the bazar, the little Mosque, the Kotwal's Chowree,
the temple of Mahadeo. I could have named them all, and one house
in particular,--my heart leaped within me as I passed it. There was
nothing remarkable in it: but it seemed unaccountably fresh to me,--as
though I had but left it yesterday.
Still I walked on silently, and my companion did not notice the
agitation and surprise which must have been depicted on my features. We
reached the house, a respectable one in appearance; and desiring me to
be seated, he left me to bring the old man of whom we had spoken. When
we entered, Alla! Alla! I could have called him too by name, though his
features were shrunken and withered. I was almost about to exclaim,
Rheim Khan! but I checked myself; and, as he was presented to me under
another name, Futih Mahomed Khan, I was silent.
The whole, after this, thought I, must be a wild dream, or I may have
visited the place in my wanderings, perhaps stayed a few days at it,
and it is thus familiar to me. After some desultory conversation, my
new friend stated what he had told me, and requested his father-in-law
to relate the story of Peer Khan with all its particulars.