Year: 1874

An Oriental s ory.


A merchant having disposed Of his en-
tire stock at i1yderabad, in the Deccan.
was returning to Bombay. Before he
could reach the nearest railway station, u
long and droarv road Of over a hundred
and fifty miles had TO be traversed, though
it was in much safer state than in pre-
veus years. Yet still highway robbcries
were not altogether of urfrequcnt occur.
renee and so to avoid the appearance Of
being possessed of any wealth, as well as
for the sake Of economy, he travelled on
foot, poorly dressed, and carried in bag
concealed about his person one thousand /
rupees, in notes aud coin, the result Of
his speculation. Late one night he reached
small village, about midway. Hitherto
everything had gone well with him, and
he had not experienced the slightest mo.
lestation but as this place was so far
from any large town, he felt afraid, with
the large sum of money in his possession,
to trust himself among the villagers, think.
ing that he ran too great risk Of being
pundcred in his sleep.


A happy thought struck him that he
would 80 to the police station; and. hay
ing told the jemadar, or head of police,
of the money he had, and of his fear Of
losing it,requcstcd nights lodging,whcrc
he might rest in peace and safety. This
was Immediately granted him. The jcm-
adar consented, but frankly confessed to
him how glad he would be when he took
his departure, as he felt sure he would
hardly be able to sleep wink that night,
on account Of his deep sense of the re-
sponsiblity he incurred.


Our friend the merchant then entered
the station house, and having put down
his bag of rupees by way of u pillow,prc-
pared for a snoozc but the icmadar, who
seemed a good sort Of fellow, said he
could not think of allowing his charge to
60 supperless to bed if he would 90 out
and have some food, he, the jemadar,


would watch over his money until his re-.
turn


To this the merchant demurrcd, and
said that he would wait till his break fast
the next morning; he was very tired and
wanted rest. The jemadar and the con.
stables under him, who had now joined
in the conversation, would not hear OF


this, and were so pressing, that at last he
yielded, and went out. On passing back


Of the house he heard voices of men in


eager discussion. Thinking he might


overhcar something that might be OF con.


sequence to him, he looked about for some


aperture By means Of which he might see
and overhear all that was going on inside


A light shining through a small hole near


the roof pointed out what he required


so. cautiously mounting heap-of stones


piled against the side Of the house, he


reened in.


The icmadar aud several of the con.


stables were in deep conversations of which


he was the subject. 1t was the old case


of listeners never hearing any good oi


themselves. A constable was saying thai


he agreed to the taking the rupees but


gave it as his firm opinion that they mus


kill the man first. This resolution wa
carried. Several schemes we're thcI
mootcd as to the best means Of doing it
At last the jemalar proposed the follow


ing, which was carried mem coR All th


consiablos, with the exception Of himself
should 90 at once to some little distanc
, oil and dig grave, so that cverythln
might be in readiness, and that no tim
:, might be lost in hiding the body. The


as soon as the traveller had finished hi
supper, aud laid down to rest, that he
q the jemadar, should lend him cloth t
=, cover him, face and all, from the mo'
= quitoes, and should then lie down by HI
= side that as soon as the merchant wa
!. sound asleep, the jemadar should leay
), him, give low whistle as signal thi
, all was ready; inat the consiablcs shoul
= then steal in. stab the merchant, and ha'
= ing carried him out, bury him.


n 1t may easily be imagined that the fec
,c ings Of the subject of all this agrecao
e conversation were not of the most cor
!. Portable kind lie would have cscap,
t. there and then, but unfortunately he hi
is left the bag Of rupees with the intel


gent police e-ofliceI so that was aliogeth
;, out of the question, Cunning must
as met by cunning, and he had not boug


and sold all these years in the bazaa
. without having had his wits considcrab
30 30 sharpened. SO he as quickly as possil
~ ~ had his supper and returned 10 the poll
"a station. The jemadar politely offer
80 him the use OF "a spare clolh to cover hi
: which he gratefully accepted,


If. On lying down the merchant motto
ly that the jemadar had been terrifying hi


self with Dutch courage, and this cireu
d. stance he determined to turn to accou
he He remained awake 50 long that the je
re-. adar gradually became drowsy himsC
h. and at last dropped off into sound slc
.er No sooner did the merchant see this tn
I'd. ne quietly got up. covered the iemac
to in the cloth that he had lent him, al
ok taking his bag OF rupees, stole out it
it. the night, giving low whistle. This v
81. answered, as agreed upon between I
zee jemadar and the constables. They ca
nv quickly in and stabbed not the merch;
,k but the iemadar Thcv then carried
ed body, covered up as it was, out, d
his buried it. After .hey had done the d.
eft they returned and finding no jemadar
ext bag of rupees, were furious at being
IN. they imagined, so vilely treated.


Two days after, the police inspec
w. came to the village, and ordered the c
er stables to parade in front OF him as
n sat under the shade of large tree


TO first of all questioned them as to the
low sence of their jemadar, They knew nc


| ing about him he must have run aw
his they said. Tley were then ask ed
and merchant with money in his possess
nly had come to the village and placed h
nix self under their protection. This
his they denied but they began To feel n