CHAPTER XII.
When we returned to the cart, my first business was to soothe my poorZora, whose screams, added to those of the old attendant, and theoaths, execrations, and shouts of the contending parties, had made adin which defies description. I found her terribly alarmed, of course,but the rascals had not been suffered to approach her; and when she wasassured by me that I should not again quit her side, she was calm, andgave me a history of the attack; which was, that as they were goingalong, the thieves began to pelt them with stones from the bushes onthe sides of the road; and at last, perhaps not thinking them armed,rushed from their concealment, and the fight began.
The wounded thief was unable to walk, so he was put into the cart withthe dead body: the boy's arms were tied behind his back, and a cordpassed round his neck I tied to my own saddle. Leaving twenty men toguard the wounded, we then quickly proceeded. We arrived at a largevillage before the sun rose; but the villagers were up, and the herdsof cattle were pouring out of the gates on their way to the pastures.We desired the men to take up the encampment under some tamarind trees,and my father, myself, and Bhudrinath went to the gates, and desiredto see the Patail, or whoever might be the chief authority. Afterwaiting a long time we were told that the Aumil expected us, and wereushered into his house, where he sat in a verandah, apparently usedby him generally to transact business in. He was a Hindoo, a Khayetby caste, and, as those persons usually are, was polite and courteousin his manners. My father was spokesman on this occasion, and afterintroducing himself as a merchant, and us as leaders of the men whoescorted him,--the old Oomerkher story,--he told him of the attackwhich had been made on us, of which, however, he seemed for a time tobe perfectly incredulous.
"Impossible!" said he; "there has not been a highway robbery, or anattempt at one, for years, ever since some notorious thieves werecaught and beheaded here; you must be under some mistake."
"You have not mentioned our wounded men, and that several of thethieves have been killed by us," said I to my father: "perhaps thisworthy gentleman will believe us when he sees them, or finds the bodiesof the rascals; and again, you forget that two of them are in ourcustody."
"Indeed!" cried the Aumil, that alters the case; "but the truth of thematter is, that so many travellers beg for escorts from village tovillage, and set forth their having been threatened between here andNirmul, that I am become difficult to satisfy, or to be persuaded thatany danger has existed."
"We require no escort," said my father; "we are strong enough to takecare of ourselves, having, as you have heard, beaten off these thieves;all we want is a few men to bring up our wounded, and justice done onthe rascals we have caught."
"It would be well for us," said Mohun Lall, "if all travellers wereto defend themselves like you; we should have but few thieves in thecountry, for they would find theirs a losing trade. But I think yousaid you had one of them unhurt; where is he; we may perhaps getsomething out of him."
I sent for the lad, and he was questioned for some time about the gang,and where it was probable they had gone; but he would not answer aword, and the man who was interpreting for us gave up questioning himin despair. "He will not say a word in this manner," said Bhudrinath;"give him the lash. I dare say that will make him speak."
"True," said Mohun Lall; "I was going to send for a korla;" and hecalled to one of his men to bring one. The thief shuddered as he sawit, and was again asked if he would confess; but he remained silent.
"Throw him down," cried Mohun Lall, "and cut the skin from his back."In an instant he was thrown with his face to the ground, and the lash,wielded by a stout fellow, brought blood at almost every stroke: but invain; he would not speak a word--not even a cry for mercy.
"This is of no use either," said one of the men who held him; "get abag full of ashes. I'll warrant he speaks fast enough when that is putover his face." A leather bag, such as is used to give grain to horses,was filled with burning-hot ashes, and brought. It was tied over hismouth, and at the same time he received some hard thumps on his backto force him to breathe. This apparently had the desired effect; forafter a short time, during which the torture must have been great, hemuttered something, and the bag was withdrawn.
"You think to make me confess," said the rascal as soon as he couldspeak, "but it is in vain. I know well where my people are gone, andI curse the authors of their discomfiture;" and he poured a torrentof abuse on me. "Yes," continued he, pointing to me, "it was you whostruck down my father, and as he is dead, I want no more than to diealso; you may hang me as soon as you please."
"Ha," said Mohun Lall, "I had forgotten him; let him be brought."
I had left the fellow badly wounded, but did not think there was anydanger of his life. When he arrived, however, carried on a bed, it wasevident he was dying; he scarcely breathed, and the rattle was in histhroat: we did not therefore trouble ourselves further about him, butendeavoured to make the son confess; the whip and hot ashes were bothresorted to again without effect, and all our endeavours only producedfresh execrations and abuse.
"There is no bearing this any longer," cried Mohun Lall; "the fellowmust be hanged. I know these rascals, and were we to keep him for ayear we should never get a word of intelligence out of him, so there isno use in delay."
"As you will," said my father; "perhaps he will confess when the ropeis round his neck."
"We shall see," replied Mohun Lall; "but I do not think it. Send forthe Mangs." These wretches, everywhere the vilest of mankind, were soonpresent, and the thief was made over to them.
"You see," said Mohun Lall to him, "you have no chance of escape; willyou now confess and take service with me? I will protect you." Thefellow hesitated, looked at his father, and appeared irresolute; but asecond glance at his expiring parent again rallied him.
"Not for all the wealth you could give me," cried he, drawing himselfup and looking at us proudly. "Had _he_ been alive, and in your power,I might have taken your service; but you could not protect me now, andI would rather die by the hands of your people than by those of myassociates, from whom I could not escape."
"Away with him!" cried Mohun Lall to the Mangs; "see that you do yourwork properly."
"And our mamool (customary present), Maharaj, you must not forgot that."
"No, no," cried he; "but away with ye; I am polluted by your presence;go to the Kotwal after you have done, and he will have received ordersto give you a sheep and as much liquor as will make you all drunk."
The fellows made many most profound salams, and went off with theirwretched companion. "Where will they hang him?" said I; "I should liketo see him again, and try if I can't persuade him to live to become adecent fellow."
"Somewhere beyond the gate," said Mohun Lall: "I do not know the placemyself, but my people will show you. You will do little good, however,I am afraid; and after all, why should you trouble yourself about him?"
"It is no trouble," I replied; "I have simply a curiosity upon thesubject, and will see the last of him."
"I will accompany you," said Bhudrinath; and we took our leave andfollowed the executioners. About an arrow's flight from the gate weretwo scraggy, gnarled, and almost leafless neem-trees, beneath whichstood the group we sought, and round them all the urchins and idle menof the village. We hastened up to them, and found that everything wasprepared: a rope with a noose in it hung over a branch, and one of theMangs was coolly sharpening a knife upon an old stone idol, which laybeneath the tree--for what purpose I could not make out; however, mybusiness was not with them, but with the wretch who was so near hisdeath. He had seen us approach, and I thought was urging the Mangsto despatch him before we came up; but they did not do so, as theyimagined we brought some other orders to them. I addressed myself tothe robber: "Will you not live?" said I; "so young as you are, haveyou no love of life? I now again promise you protection if you willconfess, as you have been asked to do before."
"Let the cords be somewhat loosened which bind my arms," said therobber, "and I will speak to you; at p
resent, I am in too much pain totalk."
"Loosen them," said I to the Mangs; "and one of you hold the rope incase he attempts to escape."
The robber smiled faintly at what I said, and continued:--"You havetaken an interest in me, and although I owe my present condition toyou, yet sooner or later I should have come to the same end, or fallenby some shot, or cut of a sword; therefore I forgive you my death.But, again I repeat, I have no wish to live; nor, miserable as I am,can you suppose I would purchase my life by an act of treachery to mycompanions. Had my father lived, and remained in Mohun Lall's power, Iwould have promised anything; but he is dead: my uncle, too, fell bythe hands of one of your men in the attack on your cart; and whom haveI left in this world to care for, that I should live? One day has seenthe end of my family; and it was our fate. Yet bear to Mohun Lall myhate, and the curses of a dying man. It is he who has killed me, andfor this he will have to pay a fearful retribution. And now," said he,turning to the Mangs, "do your horrible office; I have no more to say."
I was going to speak again, but Bhudrinath stopped me. "What is theuse?" said he; "the fellow is obstinate, and, depend upon it, if hewere spared, it would only be to lead good men into danger, if not intodestruction: let him die, he deserves it."
The Mangs looked to me for orders, and I told them to proceed; it wasclearly of no use to delay. The robber was again tightly pinioned andthrown on the ground, and the Mang who held the knife he had beensharpening, dexterously cut both sinews of his legs close above theheel; he was then raised up, the noose put round his neck, and inanother instant he was pulled up to the branch, and struggling in hisdeath agony. "Pah!" said Bhudrinath, turning away, "it makes me sick;what a contrast this is to our work, where he who is to die scarcelyknows that the handkerchief is about his neck before he is a dead man."
"You say truly," said I; "we have the advantage; but these Mangs aremiserable, outcast wretches. What else could you expect from them?Now let us go to the camp; my father will be there, and we will seewhat this Kumal Khan had with him." When we arrived, we found thatall his baggage had been examined. There were two boxes, the contentsof which we looked to see with some impatience. One was nearly filledwith papers relating to his business as a revenue-collector, and thesewere burned as fast as they could be looked over by me. In the bottom,however, was a bag filled with gold, which Bhudrinath held up intriumph.
"This is something better than musty paper," said he, putting it on oneside; "now for the other box."
It was broken open, and proved a rich prize, indeed. After the clotheswith which the top was covered had been removed, a number of bars ofsilver met our expecting eyes. The box was not, however, emptied, andunder another layer of clothes were ten bars of gold, of the same sizeas the silver ones.
"Here is the cream of the matter," cried Bhudrinath, as he took up thefirst; "Alla knows how much there is! but it is clear the man was worthkilling; and finely, indeed, must he have plundered the unfortunatecultivators."
The bars of gold and silver were made over to my father, to be placedamong the other plunder we had got; and all that now remained to beseen were the clothes he had worn and his waist-bag. There was not,however, much in it. "Stay," said Bhudrinath, "here is another bundle,which was in the humeanah."
I took it from him, and unrolled fold after fold of clean paper. "Why,there is nothing here," said I; "I suppose he kept this to write on."
"Go on to the end, nevertheless," said my father; "let us see all."
After removing three more folds I came to another small packet, whichwas tied up with thread. "Here is something at last," said I, breakingit open: "bills of exchange, in the name of the blessed Prophet! and, Idoubt not, of value, too. Have we any one who can make them out?"
"I cannot read the writing," said Bhudrinath, "but I can make out thefigures if they are not written in Persian."
"Ah, no," said I, "they are Nagree or Guzerattee; so try your skill."
"This," said Bhudrinath, after examining one, "is for two thousandrupees: see, these are the figures."
"I dare say you are right," said I, handing the rest to him; "what arethese for?"
"Here is a second for four hundred."
"Not much," said my father; "but go on."
"The third is for--let me see again," said Bhudrinath; "ah, I am right,it is for two thousand two hundred; and the last is for two hundred andforty."
"That is, let me see," said I, "four thousand eight hundred and forty.Well, we have got a good prize."
"Yes!" cried my father, "we should be well off if they were worthanything to us; but they are no better than the waste paper we haveburned."
"How?" said I; "we should get the money if we presented them, surely?"
"You do not reflect," said my father, "that if we did so, it would leadto our detection in this matter: so destroy them."
"Indeed," said I, "I will not, but will keep them for stolen money; andI dare say were we to affect to be this Kumal Khan's agents, we mightget the amount."
"As you will," said my father; "but remember you take no steps aboutthem without consulting me." So I kept them, and had afterwards reasonto be glad that I had done so.
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