by Eugène Sue
CHAPTER XX. M. JOSHUA VAN DAEL.
M. Joshua Van Dael a Dutch merchant, and correspondent of M. Rodin, wasborn at Batavia, the capital of the island of Java; his parents had senthim to be educated at Pondicherry, in a celebrated religious house, longestablished in that place, and belonging to the "Society of Jesus."It was there that he was initiated into the order as "professor of thethree vows," or lay member, commonly called "temporal coadjutor."
Joshua was a man of probity that passed for stainless; of strictaccuracy in business, cold, careful, reserved, and remarkably skillfuland sagacious; his financial operations were almost always successful,for a protecting power gave him ever in time, knowledge of eventswhich might advantageously influence his commercial transactions. Thereligious house of Pondicherry was interested in his affairs, havingcharged him with the exportation and exchange of the produce of itslarge possessions in this colony.
Speaking little, hearing much, never disputing, polite in theextreme--giving seldom, but with choice and purpose--Joshua, withoutinspiring sympathy, commanded generally that cold respect, which isalways paid to the rigid moralist; for instead of yielding to theinfluence of lax and dissolute colonial manners, he appeared to livewith great regularity, and his exterior had something of austerity aboutit, which tended to overawe.
The following scene took place at Batavia, while Djalma was on his wayto the ruins of Tchandi in the hope of meeting General Simon.
M. Joshua had just retired into his cabinet, in which were many shelvesfilled with paper boxes, and huge ledgers and cash boxes lying open upondesks. The only window of this apartment, which was on the ground floor,looked out upon a narrow empty court, and was protected externally bystrong iron bars; instead of glass, it was fitted with a Venetian blind,because of the extreme heat of the climate.
M. Joshua, having placed upon his desk a taper in a glass globe, lookedat the clock. "Half-past nine," said he. "Mahal ought soon to be here."
Saying this, he went out, passing through an antechamber, opened asecond thick door, studded with nail-heads, in the Dutch fashion,cautiously entered the court (so as not to be heard by the people inthe house), and drew back the secret bolt of a gate six feet high,formidably garnished with iron spikes. Leaving this gate unfastened, heregained his cabinet, after he had successively and carefully closed thetwo other doors behind him.
M. Joshua next seated himself at his desk, and took from a drawer a longletter, or rather statement, commenced some time before, and continuedday by day. It is superfluous to observe, that the letter alreadymentioned, as addressed to M. Rodin, was anterior to the liberation ofDjalma and his arrival at Batavia.
The present statement was also addressed to M. Rodin, and Van Dael thuswent on with it:
"Fearing the return of General Simon, of which I had been informed byintercepting his letters--I have already told you, that I had succeededin being employed by him as his agent here; having then read hisletters, and sent them on as if untouched to Djalma, I felt myselfobliged, from the pressure of the circumstances, to have recourseto extreme measures--taking care always to preserve appearances, andrendering at the same time a signal service to humanity, which lastreason chiefly decided me.
"A new danger imperiously commanded these measures. The steamship'Ruyter' came in yesterday, and sails tomorrow in the course of the day.She is to make the voyage to Europe via the Arabian Gulf; her passengerswill disembark at Suez, cross the Isthmus, and go on board anothervessel at Alexandria, which will bring them to France. This voyage, asrapid as it is direct, will not take more than seven or eight weeks. Weare now at the end of October; Prince Djalma might then be in Franceby the commencement of the month of January; and according to yourinstructions, of which I know not the motive, but which I execute withzeal and submission, his departure must be prevented at all hazards,because, you tell me, some of the gravest interests of the Society wouldbe compromised, by the arrival of this young Indian in Paris before the13th of February. Now, if I succeed, as I hope, in making him miss thisopportunity of the 'Ruyter' it will be materially impossible for him toarrive in France before the month of April; for the 'Ruyter' is the onlyvessel which makes the direct passage, the others taking at least fouror five months to reach Europe.
"Before telling you the means which I have thought right to employ,to detain Prince Djalma--of the success of which means I am yetuncertain--it is well that you should be acquainted with the followingfacts.
"They have just discovered, in British India, a community whose memberscall themselves 'Brothers of the Good Work,' or 'Phansegars,' whichsignifies simply 'Thugs' or 'Stranglers;' these murderers do not shedblood, but strangle their victims, less for the purpose of robbingthem, than in obedience to a homicidal vocation, and to the laws of aninfernal divinity named by them 'Bowanee.'
"I cannot better give you an idea of this horrible sect, than bytranscribing here some lines from the introduction of a reportby Colonel Sleeman, who has hunted out this dark association withindefatigable zeal. The report in question was published about twomonths ago. Here is the extract; it is the colonel who speaks:
"'From 1822 to 1824, when I was charged with the magistracy and civiladministration of the district of Nersingpore, not a murder, not theleast robbery was committed by an ordinary criminal, without my beingimmediately informed of it; but if any one had come and told me at thisperiod, that a band of hereditary assassins by profession lived in thevillage of Kundelie, within about four hundred yards of my court ofjustice--that the beautiful groves of the village of Mundesoor, withina day's march of my residence, formed one of the most frightful marts ofassassination in all India--that numerous bands of 'Brothers of the GoodWork,' coming from Hindostan and the Deccan, met annually beneath theseshades, as at a solemn festival, to exercise their dreadful vocationupon all the roads which cross each other in this locality--I shouldhave taken such a person for a madman, or one who had been imposed uponby idle tales. And yet nothing could be truer; hundreds of travellershad been buried every year in the groves of Mundesoor; a whole tribeof assassins lived close to my door, at the very time I was suprememagistrate of the province, and extended their devastations to thecities of Poonah and Hyderabad. I shall never forget, when, to convinceme of the fact, one of the chiefs of the Stranglers, who had turnedinformer against them, caused thirteen bodies to be dug up from theground beneath my tent, and offered to produce any number from the soilin the immediate vicinity.'(5)
"These few words of Colonel Sleeman will give some idea of this dreadsociety, which has its laws, duties, customs, opposed to all otherlaws, human and divine. Devoted to each other, even to heroism,blindly obedient to their chiefs, who profess themselves the immediaterepresentatives of their dark divinity, regarding as enemies all who donot belong to them, gaining recruits everywhere by a frightful system ofproselytising--these apostles of a religion of murder go preaching theirabominable doctrines in the shade, and spreading their immense net overthe whole of India.
"Three of their principal chiefs, and one of their adepts, flying fromthe determined pursuit of the English governor-general, having succeededin making their escape, had arrived at the Straits of Malacca, at nogreat distance from our island; a smuggler, who is also something of apirate, attached to their association, and by name Mahal, took them onboard his coasting vessel, and brought them hither, where they thinkthemselves for some time in safety--as, following the advice of thesmuggler, they lie concealed in a thick forest, in which are many ruinedtemples and numerous subterranean retreats.
"Amongst these chiefs, all three remarkably intelligent, there is onein particular, named Faringhea, whose extraordinary energy and eminentqualities make him every way redoubtable. He is of the mixed race,half white and Hindoo, has long inhabited towns in which are Europeanfactories and speaks English and French very well. The other two chiefsare a Negro and a Hindoo; the adept is a Malay.
"The smuggler, Mahal, considering that he could obtain a large rewardby giving up these three chiefs and their ad
ept, came to me, knowing, asall the world knows, my intimate relations with a person who has greatinfluence with our governor. Two days ago, he offered me, on certainconditions, to deliver up the Negro, the half-caste, the Hindoo, andthe Malay. These conditions are--a considerable sum of money, and a freepassage on board a vessel sailing for Europe or America, in order toescape the implacable vengeance of the Thugs.
"I joyfully seized the occasion to hand over three such murderers tohuman justice, and I promised Mahal to arrange matters for him with thegovernor, but also on certain conditions, innocent in themselves, andwhich concerned Djalma. Should my project succeed, I will explain myselfmore at length; I shall soon know the result, for I expect Mahal everyminute.
"But before I close these despatches, which are to go tomorrow by the'Ruyter'--in which vessel I have also engaged a passage for Mahal theSmuggler, in the event of the success of my plans--I must include inparentheses a subject of some importance.
"In my last letter, in which I announced to you the death of Djalma'sfather, and his own imprisonment by the English, I asked forsome information as to the solvency of Baron Tripeaud, banker andmanufacturer at Paris, who has also an agency at Calcutta. Thisinformation will now be useless, if what I have just learned should,unfortunately, turn out to be correct, and it will be for you to actaccording to circumstances.
"This house at Calcutta owes considerable sums both to me and ourcolleague at Pondicherry, and it is said that M. Tripeaud has involvedhimself to a dangerous extent in attempting to ruin, by opposition, avery flourishing establishment, founded some time ago by M. FrancoisHardy, an eminent manufacturer. I am assured that M. Tripeaud hasalready sunk and lost a large capital in this enterprise: he has nodoubt done a great deal of harm to M. Francois Hardy; but he has also,they say, seriously compromised his own fortune--and, were he to fail,the effects of his disaster would be very fatal to us, seeing that heowes a large sum of money to me and to us.
"In this state of things it would be very desirable if, by theemployment of the powerful means of every kind at our disposal, we couldcompletely discredit and break down the house of M. Francois Hardy,already shaken by M. Tripeaud's violent opposition. In that case, thelatter would soon regain all he has lost; the ruin of his rival wouldinsure his prosperity, and our demands would be securely covered.
"Doubtless, it is painful, it is sad, to be obliged to have recourse tothese extreme measures, only to get back our own; but, in these days,are we not surely justified in sometimes using the arms that areincessantly turned against us? If we are reduced to such steps by theinjustice and wickedness of men, we may console ourselves with thereflection that we only seek to preserve our worldly possessions, inorder to devote them to the greater glory of God; whilst, in the handsof our enemies, those very goods are the dangerous instruments ofperdition and scandal.
"After all it is merely a humble proposition that I submit to you. Wereit in my power to take an active part in the matter, I should do nothingof myself. My will is not my own. It belongs, with all I possess, tothose whom I have sworn absolute obedience."
Here a slight noise interrupted M. Joshua, and drew his attention fromhis work. He rose abruptly, and went straight to the window. Threegentle taps were given on the outside of one of the slats of the blind.
"Is it you, Mahal?" asked M. Joshua, in a low voice.
"It is I," was answered from without, also in a low tone.
"And the Malay?"
"He has succeeded."
"Really!" cried M. Joshua, with an expression of great satisfaction;"are you sure of it?"
"Quite sure: there is no devil more clever and intrepid."
"And Djalma?"
"The parts of the letter, which I quoted, convinced him that I came fromGeneral Simon, and that he would find him at the ruins of Tchandi."
"Therefore, at this moment--"
"Djalma goes to the ruins, where he will encounter the black, the halfblood, and the Indian. It is there they have appointed to meet theMalay, who tattooed the prince during his sleep."
"Have you been to examine the subterraneous passage?"
"I went there yesterday. One of the stones of the pedestal of the statueturns upon itself; the stairs are large; it will do."
"And the three chiefs have no suspicion?"
"None--I saw them in the morning--and this evening the Malay came totell me all, before he went to join them at the ruins of Tchandi--forhe had remained hidden amongst the bushes, not daring to go there in thedaytime."
"Mahal--if you have told the truth, and if all succeed--your pardon andample reward are assured to you. Your berth has been taken on board the'Ruyter;' you will sail to-morrow; you will thus be safe from the maliceof the Stranglers, who would follow you hither to revenge the death oftheir chiefs, Providence having chosen you to deliver those three greatcriminals to justice. Heaven will bless you!--Go and wait for me at thedoor of the governor's house; I will introduce you. The matter is soimportant that I do not hesitate to disturb him thus late in the night.Go quickly!--I will follow on my side."
The steps of Mahal were distinctly audible, as he withdrewprecipitately, and then silence reigned once more in the house. Joshuareturned to his desk, and hastily added these words to the despatch,which he had before commenced:
"Whatever may now happen, it will be impossible for Djalma to leaveBatavia at present. You may rest quite satisfied; he will not be atParis by the 13th of next February. As I foresaw, I shall have to be upall night.--I am just going to the governor's. To-morrow I will adda few lines to this long statement, which the steamship 'Ruyter' willconvey to Europe."
Having locked up his papers, Joshua rang the bell loudly, and, to thegreat astonishment of his servants, not accustomed to see him leave homein the middle of the night, went in all haste to the residence of thegovernor of the island.
We now conduct the reader to the ruins of Tchandi.
(5) This report is extracted from Count Edward de Warren's excellentwork, "British India in 1831."--E. S.
