Confessions of a Thug
Page 26
CHAPTER XXV.
At the expiration of a week Ameer Ali sent word to me that he was readyto resume his narrative, and I lost no time in requesting him to repairto my residence. He arrived, and making his usual graceful obeisance, Idesired him to be seated.
The reader will perhaps like to know something of the appearance of theman with whom he and I have had these long conversations; and no longerto keep him in the dark on so important a subject, I will describeAmeer Ali to him. He is what would be called a short man, about fivefeet seven inches in height: his figure is now slender, which may bethe effect of his long imprisonment,--imprisonment it can hardly becalled, except that to one of his formerly free and unrestrained habitsand pursuits the smallest restraint must, of course, be irksome in thehighest degree, and painful to bear. His age may be about thirty-fiveor forty years; but it sits lightly on him for a native of India; andit has not in the least whitened a beard and mustachios on which heevidently expends great care and pains, and which are always trimmedand curled with the greatest neatness. His figure, as I have said, isslight: but it is in the highest degree compact, agile, and muscular;and his arms are remarkable for the latter quality, combined withunusual length and sinewiness. His dress is always scrupulously neatand clean, and put on with more attention to effect than is usual withhis brother approvers, his turban being always tied with a smart cock,and his waist tightly girded with an English shawl or a gaily-dyedhandkerchief, where once a shawl of Cashmere or a handkerchief ofbrocade was better suited to his pretensions. In complexion he is fairfor a native; his face is even now strikingly handsome, and leadsme to believe that the accounts of his youthful appearance have notbeen exaggerated. His forehead is high and broad; his eyes large,sparkling, and very expressive, especially when his eloquence kindlesand bursts forth in a torrent of figurative language, which it wouldbe impossible to render into English, or, if it were rendered, wouldappear to the English reader, unused to such forms of speech, highlyexaggerated and absurd. His cheeks are somewhat sunken, but his noseis aquiline and elegantly formed, and his mouth small and beautifullychiselled, and his teeth are exquisitely white and even. His upper lipis graced with a pair of small mustachios, which would be the envy ofmany a gay lieutenant of hussars; while a beard close and wavy, fromwhich a straggling hair is never suffered to escape, descends nearlyto his breast, and hides a throat and neck which would be a study fora painter or a sculptor. To complete all, his chest is very broad andprominent, and well contrasts with the effect of his small waist.
His manner is graceful, bland, and polite--it is, indeed, more thangentleman-like--it is courtly; and I have not seen it equalled even bythe Mahomedan noblemen, with many of whom I have associated. Any ofmy readers who may have been in India, and become acquainted with itsnobles and men of rank, will estimate at once how high is the meed ofpraise on this score which I give to Ameer Ali. His language is pureand fluent, perhaps a little affected from his knowledge of Persian,which, though slight, is sufficient to enable him to introduce wordsand expressions in that language, often when they are not needed;but still it is pure Oordoo; he prides himself upon it, and holds insupreme contempt those who speak the corrupt patois of the Dukhun, orthe still worse one of Hindostan. Altogether Ameer Ali is a character,and a man of immense importance in his own opinion, and that of everyone else; and the swagger which he has now adopted in his gait, butwhich is evidently foreign to him, does not sit amiss on his nowreduced condition.
Reader, if you can embody these descriptions, you have Ameer Ali beforeyou; and while you gaze on the picture in your imagination, and look onthe mild and expressive face you may have fancied, you, as I was, wouldbe the last person to think that he was a professed murderer, and onewho in the course of his life has committed upwards of seven hundredmurders. I mean by this, that he has been actively and personallyengaged in the destruction of that number of human beings.
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Now, Ameer Ali, said I, since I have finished describing yourappearance, I hope you are ready to contribute more to the stock ofadventures you have already related.
Your slave is ready, Sahib, he replied, and Inshalla Ta-alla! he willnot disappoint you. But why has my lord described my poor appearance,which is now miserable enough? But might your slave ask what you havewritten?--and the tone of his voice implied that he had concluded itcould not be favourable.
Listen, said I, and I will read it to you. At every sentence theexpression of his face brightened. When I had concluded, he said:--Itis 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 aprofound salam.
No, said I, I have not flattered your external appearance, which isprepossessing; but of your heart I fear those who read will judge forthemselves; and their opinions will not be such as you could wish, butsuch 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 husbandand a faithful friend? Did I not love my children and wife while Hewho is above spared them to me? and do I not even now bitterly mourntheir deaths? Where is the man existing who can say a word againstAmeer Ali's honour, which ever has been, and ever will remain, pureand unsullied? Have I ever broken a social tie? ever been unfaithfulor unkind to a comrade? ever failed in my duty or in my trust? everneglected a rite or ceremony of my religion? I tell you, Sahib, theman breathes not who could point his finger at me on any one of thesepoints. And, if you think on them they are those which, if rigidlykept, 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 adifferent matter. I can never persuade you that I was fully authorizedto 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 athousand times thrown about their necks and the strength of an elephantin my arms, could I have done aught--would they have died--without itwas His will? I tell you, Sahib, they would not--they could not; butas I shall never be able to persuade you to think otherwise, and asit is not respectful in me to bandy words with my lord, I think it istime for me to recommence my tale, if he is ready to listen, for Ihave still much to relate. I have been so minute in the particularsof my first expedition, that perhaps I need not make the narrative ofthe 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, forit would be an almost endless task to follow me in every expedition Iundertook. I shall, therefore, with your permission, confine myself tothe narration of those which I think will most interest you, and whichI remember to possess remarkable incidents.
Go on, said I; I listen.
Well then, said the Thug, Khodawund must remember that I told him Ipassed over three expeditions, and that I had partly determined to goon the third. It is of that expedition I would now speak, as it wasmarked by an extraordinary circumstance, which will show you at oncethat it is impossible for any one to avoid his fate if it be the willof Alla that he should die.
At the time I speak of I had been obliged to form another set ofintimates in consequence of the loss of Bhudrinath and Surfuraz Khan,for both of whom I had the sincerest regard. Hoosein, though I lovedand revered him as my father's dearest friend, was now too old andgrave to participate in all my thoughts and perhaps wild aspirationsfor distinction. So as Peer Khan and Motee-ram, with whose names youare familiar, had now risen to my own rank, and proved themselves tobe "good men and true" in various expeditions, I took them into myconfidence, and we planned an enterprise, of which I was to be theleader and they my subordinates. Fifty of the youngest, stoutest, andmost active and enterprising of our acquaintance were fixed on as theband; and all having been previously warn
ed, we met a few days beforethe Dussera of the year 18--, in a grove near our village, which wasshady and well adapted for large assemblies, and was always used as aplace of meeting and deliberation: it was considered a lucky spot, nounfortunate expedition ever having set out from it.
We were all assembled. It was a lovely morning, and the grass, as yetnot even browned by the sun and drought, was as if a soft and beautifulcarpet had been spread on purpose for us. The surrounding fields--manyof them tilled by our own hands--waved in green luxuriance, and thewind, as it passed over them in gentle gusts, caused each stalk of talljowaree to be agitated, while the sun shining brightly, made the wholeglitter so that it was almost painful to look on for a continuance.Birds sang in the lofty banian trees which overshadowed us; hundreds ofgreen parroquets sported and screamed in their branches, as they flewfrom bough to bough, some in apparent sport, others to feed on the nowripening berries of the trees; and the whole grove resounded with thecooing of innumerable turtle-doves, whose gentle and loving murmurssoothed the turbulence of the heart, and bade it be at peace and restand as happy as they were.
My father and Hoosein were present to guide us by their counselsand experience, and the matter in hand was commenced by a sacrificeand invocation to Bhowanee; but as I have before described theseceremonies, it is needless to repeat them; suffice it to say thatthe omens were taken and were favourable in the highest degree; theyassured us, and though I had little faith in them notwithstanding all Ihad heard to convince me of their necessity, they inspirited the wholeband, and I partook of the general hilarity consequent upon them. Myfather opened the object of the meeting in a short address. He saidhe was old and no longer fitted for the fatigues and privations of ajourney; 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 themen to place implicit confidence in me, to obey me in all things asthough he himself were present, and above all not to give way to anydisposition to quarrel among themselves, which would infallibly lead tothe same disastrous results as had overtaken the expedition which hadgone out the previous year.
They one and all rose after this address, and by mutual consent sworeon the sacred pickaxe to obey me--the most impressive oath they couldtake, and any deviation from which they all firmly believed would drawdown the vengeance of our Protectress upon them and lead to theirdestruction. I will not occupy your time, Sahib, by a narration of whatI myself said; suffice it to say, I proposed that the band should takethe high road to the Dukhun, and penetrate as far as Jubbulpoor orNagpoor; from thence we would take a direction eastward or westward, ashope of booty offered, and so return to our home. Khandesh I mentionedas being but little known to us Thugs, and where I thought it likely wemight meet with good booty, as I had heard that the traders of Bombaywere in the habit of sending large quantities of treasure to theircorrespondents in Malwa for the purchase of opium and other productsof that district. I concluded by assuring them that I had a strongpresentiment of great success, that I felt confidence in myself, andthat, if they would only follow me faithfully and truly, we mightreturn in a few months as well laden with spoil as we had on the formeroccasion.
Again they rose and pledged their faith; and truly it was a solemnsight to see those determined men nerve themselves for an enterprisewhich might end happily, but which exposed them to fearful risk ofdetection, dishonour, and death.