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

He hesitated at this; but a glance at the men who held the rope, and who had now made Q pretty moose in it, | was enough.
 I will sahib,' he muttered. My life | will be saved?'
 | On condition that you carry out your promise to the letter, l will do my best to save it.
 | "A table was brought, my native clerk prepared his writing materials, and there, within @ yard of the gibbet, the prisoner told tale of murder and robbery appalling In its extent, sicken- ing in it's cold -bloodedness and deliber- ation. To this he added list of some thirty or forty accomplices, and, with @ remarkable effort of memory, de- scribed the position of the rude graves of over one hundred victims.
 "The same day we set out to in vestigate, and the following evening reached one of the indicated spots. | There we found buried proof of the reality of one part of the Thugs con- fession, and in that a guarantee for the truth of the rest.
 "A couple of weeks of activity pass ed. Thanks to Hosein, who had been saven and otherwise disguised, we not only collected ample proof of the crimes committed, but succeeded in se- curing many of theculprits, who were l taken to the nearest court and tried. By judicious setting of caste against | caste, we managed to cause recrimina- tions and retaliations among the pris- oners, which led to their convicting each other, and so avoided the neces- sity of producing Hosein Ali as a wit ness-a course which would have been fatal to his usefulness.
 "So far the informer had amply full filled his contract. He had, indeed, | displayed zeal which made me at times very doubtful of his sincerity. No government officer could have been more anxious to run the culprits to earth, no one more fruitful In devices to entrap them, I found out at last that this thoroughpess was character istic of the man in all things
 "One day told him that thought he might count on getting off cheap, his services had been so valuable and so willingly given. I added hope that he would lead different life when the | business was all over. .....
 What business, sahib?' he asked.
 "'When Thuggee is suppressed I re- piled
 'Thuggee! He made a wide gesture with his arms, as though to indicate all India, and added, with a little smile that had a grain of pride in it: | We shall be old men, sahib.'
 q was but twenty-three then, and incredulous; but he was right. I was | gray when I came home, and I left Thugs behind me.
 "Well, the further the work of sup pression advanced, the more difficult it | became. The Thugs had enjoyed im- punity so long that many of the bands | had become careless and were taken with comparative ease; but as the | news of their capture spread, and the fate grew which met them became known, the villains grew more wary and difficult of approach.
 "We had, of course, spies and scouts out in all directions. The inhabitants of the villages were even too eager to give us information and often the &C., counts were so conflicting that I was at loss. In these difficulties Hosein | was invaluable. He smelt out the true l and reliable, and knew exactly what the Thugs in this or that dilemma | would do or attempt.
 About a month after Hosein's capt. ure we got on the heels of a band which, by the signs, numbered about forty members. Instead of following them up, we crossed the river along the banks of which they were march ing, and, hurrying on, got in advance l of JTo ho1r tn cross later, and hoped to ambush them. The bank on our side of the river was covered with thick and broad belt of jungle, beyond which was chain of hills whose lower slopes were well wooded. In the shade of these trees we rested for the noon. In the early afternoon one of our scouts came in with news. About a mile in front of us he had seen a party of na- tives, whose manner seemed to him suspicious, entering grove of trees. The possibility that this was detach- ment of the band we were after at once occurred to me. We were on our feet at once, and pushing forward with all circumspection, almost succeeded in surrounding the grove without detec- tion At the last moment we were seen. We charged in, but, to our sur prise, met with resistance. Instead, in- deed, of g. band of determined and de- liant robbers, we broke in on what seemed to be a party of travelling mer- chants in the deepest distress. The air was full of low lamentations. Pushing my way into the group, I saw the cause of the trouble. A badly lay stretched out in the unmistakable at- tttutde of death, covered reverently with linen cloak. Catching sight of me, one of the mourners spoke:
 "'Shookr Khoda! Now shall the wicked sufferer
 "'What is wrong?' I inquired. l "'Thugsl was the reply. Our broth CT left us this morning in fit of an- ger to continue his journey alone. Here we overtake him at noon, dead, and the villains are gone.'
 q piled the men with questions as to the direction taken by the robbers. Eastward they said. They had not | seen them, but, from various signs, were confident This was contrary to all our ideas as to their route, and l was considering how to rearrange our plans when I heard Hosein Ais voice whispering behind me: My lord must not loak round or show surprise. This body is still warm. The man is but | L