Part 9 (1/2)
According to him they always make this offer If it had only been himself that was concerned he said that he would have died a hundred times rather than have accepted; but his little boy ith hi that soht escape They then received him with some horrible ceremonies, and marked on his arht elbow, the name of Bowhani in Hindu characters Potts showed me his arm and that of his son in proof of this
”He had been with the to his own account, about three months, and his life had been one continuous horror He had picked up enough of their language to conjecture to some extent the nature of their belief, which, he asserted, would be s had treated him very kindly, for they looked upon him as one of themselves, and they are all very humane and affectionate to one another His worst fear had been that they would compel him to do murder; and he would have died, he declared, rather than consent; but, fortunately, he was spared The reason of this, he said, was because they always do theirof blood is not acceptable to their divinity He could not do this, for it requires great dexterity Al cord, curiously twisted, about six feet in length, with a weight at one end, generally carved so as to represent the face of Bowhani This they throith a peculiar jerk around the neck of their victis the cord round and round, while the strangler pulls the other end, and death is inevitable His hands, he said, were coarse and cluh they forced hi about the boy, but, from what I saw of that boy afterward, I believe that nature created hi, and have no doubt that he learned then to wield the cord with as ler of them all
”His association with them had shown hiathered froee society is the worshi+p of Bowhani, a frightful deht of death or dead bodies Those who are her disciplesof blood, and the more he can kill the more of a saint he becoain, for they rarely plunder, but purely religious zeal The reward is an immortality of bliss hereafter, which Bowhani will secure them; a life like that of the Mohammedan Paradise, where there are material joys to be possessed forever without satiety
Destruction, which begins as a kind of duty, beco passion As the hunter in pursuing his prey is carried away by exciteer, feels the delight of braving danger and displaying courage, so here that saree, for it is men that e, the hunter of ht, eloquence, intrigue All this I afterward brought to the attention of the Governht and day he had been on the watch for a chance to escape, but so infernal was the cunning of these wretches, and so quick their senses, sharpened as they had been by long practice, that success became hopeless He had fallen into deep dejection, and concluded that his only hope lay in the efforts of the Government to put down these assassins Our appearance had at last saved hilishman who heard this story, doubted for an instant the truth of every word All the newspapers lishman and his son had been rescued Pity was felt for that father who, for his son's sake, had consented to dwell auish that hethat terrific captivity A thrill of horror passed through all our Anglo-Indian society at the revelation which hein his favor that a handsora
”For my part I believed in him most ied him at once to be my servant He staid with me, and every ood head for business Matters of considerable delicacy which I intrusted to hiht it the most fortunate circumstance in my Indian life that I had found such a o to England for the sake of his son He thought India a bad place for a boy, and wished to try and start in some business in his native land for his son's sake
”That boy had always been my detestation--a crafty, stealthy, wily,in his nature, without any religious basis to his Thuggeeis the father of such a son I could not let the little devil live in hted to torture, his thieving propensities, and his infernal deceit, were all so intolerable He was not ray-headed villain To oblige Potts, whom I still trusted implicitly, I wrote to my old friend Ralph Brandon, of Brandon Hall, Devonshi+re, requesting hi a man
”Just about this tiht me to this
”My sife had been ill for two years I had obtained a faithful nurse in the person of a Mrs Coentle and affectionate, for whom my dear love's sympathy had been excited No one could have beento the hill station at assurabad in hopes that the cooler air orate her
”She died It is only a htful blow fell and crushed me To think of it overwhelms me--to write of it is i but to fly froet away from India any where Before the blow crushedto the Cape of Good Hope, and therefore I ree su that a vessel was going to Manilla I decided to go there
”It was Potts who found out this I no that he engaged the vessel, put the crew on board, ere all creatures of his own, and took the route to Manilla for the sake of carrying out his designs ona fair appearance the vessel was laden with stores and things of that sort, for which there was a demand at Manilla It ith the most perfect indifference that I embarked I cared not where I went, and hoped that the novelty of the sea voyage ole, a loed, evil-faced villain The mate was named Clark There were three Lascars, who formed the small crew Potts came with me, and also an old servant of mine, a Malay; whose life I had saved years before His name was Uracao It struck ht the captain knew his business better than I, and so I gave myself no concern
”After we ereatly I reh I did not notice it at the time, for I was almost in a kind of stupor He was particularly insolent to Uracao I re indifferently that Potts would have to be repri of that sort, but was not capable of any action
”Uracao had for years slept in front of , in the saarded his life as ht that he was bound to watch over h this was often inconvenient, yet it would have broken the affectionate fellow's heart if I had forbidden it, so it went on Pottsthe Lascars, but though Uracao had borne insolence from him without afire which silenced the other into fear
”The passage was a quick one, and at last ere only a few days' sail froht I akened by a treloo desperately It was i froone
”'What the devil is this?' I roared fiercely
”No answer came; but the nextto the other, who from my berth There were low voices out in the cabin
”'You can't,' said one voice, which I recognized as Clark's 'He has his pistols'
”'He hasn't,' said the voice of Cigole 'Potts took the thethe other down
”'Uracao,' said he 'Get your pistols or you're lost!'
”'What the devil is the rily, for I had not even yet a suspicion
”'Feel around your neck,' said he
”Hastily I put h rasping the man who had fallen