The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-22
COUPON,

ter the twelfth man, and from the
 rocks below I heard a lot of whisper
 ing. Just as I was thinking it advis-
 able to risk asking the reason, l saw
 osein stoop, draw up a large bundle,
 and throw it up on the bank.
 "The Thugs were passing us their
 booty!
 "The remainder of the band brought each a similar parcel. I had crept to
 the assistance of my men, whose ex-
 ertions to secure the robbers noiseless- ly were beginning to tell on them. As
 we approached the end one or two
 squeals escaped, but fortune favored
 us and no alarm was given. oseins en-
 durance was marvellous. One after an- other he helped the victims out of the
 water and passed them up, and all
 ways with a sufficient interval. When,
 once or twice, we had more than the
 usual difficulty in convincing one of the captives of the wisdom of silence,
 he detained the next a while before landing him. Still, even he relaxed a trife in the end. By some means the last man but one to cross took alarm as he reached the bank and yelled out warning. He was quickly pulled down
 and secured, but his successor, just about to reach up his hand to Hosein, hesitated and retreated. I heard a big splash, and Hosein disappeared. He
 had jumped In after the man, and en- gagged in a struggle which we could
 hear, but only dimly see. As there was no need for further concealment I climbed down the bank and slipped into the water, followed by one of my men. Hosein had apparently overpowered his man, and was forcing him toward the bank. As we approached the Thug 1 uttered a furious sentence in a dialect | which I did not understand. and the next moment he was free and hurrying away. Hosein, for the first time to my | knowledge, seemed dumfounded and | without resource. The sepoy and I 1 dashed after the escaping Thug and 1 held him. He was an elderly but ex- ceedingly powerful man, who fought
 tooth and nail, and was only secured
 after the sepoy had hit him across the head with the ihilt of his bayonet. With this we had them all; thirty
 three murderers and twenty bales of l spoil-a fine haul.
 we spent the remainder of the night i in the grove where we had surprised
 the first lot, and early next day pushed
 on to Tearee, where I expected to find a 1 court sitting.
 | Following our usual precaution,
 Hosein travelled with the rear-guard, so | that the prisoners should not see more | of him than was necessary, although
 more than suspected that he had been
 recognized by the old Thug. Something | had changed him, anyhow. He was l strangely thoughtful, even morose; and
 when he did speak, it was for the first time, of his wife and child. It was l plain that he was passionately fond of 1 both, and his great concern was that | they might not learn what his occupa- 1 tion had been.
 Arrived at our destination, we found 1 the court already sitting, so that our
 prisoners had not long to wait. In a couple of days the case against them
 was presented. The proofs of their 1 guilt were overwhelming, and, as they | thought more of defiance than defence, | they were soon convicted and sentenced fifteen of them, including the old man
 who had so nearly escaped, to be 1 hanged, the rest to transportation to
 Penang.
 "The following morning was fixed for the execution. Three hackeries con- veyed the doomed men to the gibbets. They kept or tried to keep, up their l courage by the coarsest ribaldry and by jeering at their escort
 "As they stood in the center of the clearing before ascending the platform, Hosein Ali created a sensation by slip ping forward and kneeling humbly and
 contritely before the old Thug The
 latter, with an indescribable accent of
 scorn, uttered a couple of words and spat derisively on the informer. "The next moment the culprits had
 mounted the gallows. As each man (Coutin1Ied on Eiphth paoal