Confessions of a Thug

Again I was in prison; and although not in such wretched plight as I had been at Jhalone, for the cell was roomy and tolerably clean, yet still it was a prison,--confinement to...

"He has been on the look-out for some of you," said he, "for a long time. We have never spoken openly on the subject, but he has hinted as much many times. And I suspect he chos...

The day after my adventure with the tiger, I left our village with my father. We travelled on horseback, and on the fourth morning afterwards reached Sheopoor, the town from whi...

After all had been completed, we travelled on until we reached a small and wretched village, some coss from the scene of our late adventure, where, after the customary sacrifice...

From that hour I made a determination to destroy him. No sooner had I reached the camp than I assembled all my Thugs, and laid before them a scheme I had long been revolving in...

I said my blood boiled. Could it be that one so lovely--one who had kept company with the nobles and men of wealth of Hyderabad, had seen aught to admire in me, who was unused t...

Meanwhile a consultation was held as usual at my father's tent, and the different parts were assigned to us. The office of Bhuttote fell to me, and the merchant was delivered to...

We travelled from village to village for four days, meeting with no adventure, and in truth I was beginning to be weary of the delay and inactivity, when, on the fifth morning,...

"We can have little doubt," replied the former, "since you have brought him so far; but tell us, what are your wishes,--how is it to be managed? It will be impossible to attack...

We passed the village of Ulwal, its white pagoda peeping from among groves of tamarind and mango trees, and its large tank now glistening in the rays of the sun; and pursuing ou...

The next afternoon we were all assembled on a small plain outside the town. Cheetoo had spread his carpet after the manner of a Pindharee, and sat with his chiefs around him, pr...

The old man returned my salutations cordially; and when we were fairly seated, and the hookah had passed round, he related the sad history of the parents of the girl he had adop...

I have told you of my popularity among the Thugs, and when it became known that a new expedition was planned, and would set out after the Dussera, so many men offered themselves...

He returned after some time, bringing with him a small casket, and leading by the hand a noble-looking boy, whom he presented to me as his son, his firstborn. He was about twelv...

Among the men whom I had brought with me from Jhalone was one by name Hidayut Khan. I had never seen him before, but he was slightly known to Peer Khan, as having served with hi...

Sahib, can I describe to you the passions which then burned in my heart? I cannot. A thousand thoughts whirled through my brain, till I thought myself mad; perhaps I was. Reveng...

"Certain," he replied; "the description we had of them tallies with what I have seen in every point. Come and see yourself; there are the camels and the men disguised. But I cou...

Three years, as I have before told you, Sahib, passed in inactivity. My father and myself were in high favour, at least so we thought, with the rajah, who protected us and besto...

And where now were all my resolutions? By Alla, Sahib, I had forgotten all--home, wife, children--I thought not of them, but I drank deeply of love, wild, passionate, burning lo...

Nothing of any moment occurred during the rest of our march to Nagpoor, if I except the deaths of a few solitary travellers, who had fallen by the hands of a small portion of th...

Cheetoo was evidently flattered by the distinction with which he had been received, and as he examined the beautiful shawls which now enveloped his person, a grim smile of delig...

I must have been at this time about five years old. It will strike you perhaps as strange, Sahib, that I should remember so many particulars of the event I have described; but w...

The rest of the band, with the cart and laden bullocks, had proceeded some way before we overtook them. We passed through a thin jungle for some distance, emerging from which, w...

Four days passed, and the merchant was still in our company. He was slightly attended, and we could have terminated his existence whenever we pleased; but we were anxious to car...

I heard the Bhutteara bustling about in the interior of his house for a while, and was gratified to see that he so evidently exerted himself to please me. In a short time more t...

On the fourth morning we reached Beeder. If not so striking in its outward appearance as we approached it as Hyderabad, this city was nevertheless interesting. The summit of a l...

We were on our way towards Nirmul in the afternoon, and as we had heard no more of the Nuwab and his distress, we were relieved from our anxiety; but I was in great dread the wh...

"My father," said I, "you need say no more, I am yours, do as you will with me; long ere I heard this history from you, I had overheard a conversation between Hoosein, yourself,...

You ask me, Sahib, for an account of my life: my relation of it will be understood by you, as you are acquainted with the peculiar habits of my countrymen; and if, as you say, y...

Zenat's exclamation drew us to the window. "Quick!" she said; "look out, or you will lose the sight; they are even now passing the Char Minar." We did look out, and the sight wa...

We reached Jubbulpoor without another adventure of any kind, and rested there for two days. Peer Khan, Motee, and myself perambulated the bazars during the whole time, but not a...

Although the mind would ordinarily reject sympathy with the joys or sorrows of a murderer like Ameer Ali, one so deeply stained with crime of the most revolting nature, yet for...

We strangled the merchants at the place we had fixed on, them and their bullock-drivers,--nine in all, and yet we were only seventeen Thugs; but we were desperate. In our route...

When we returned we had a good laugh over our success. The adventure was novel to us all, and we pictured to ourselves the mortification and chagrin of the robbers, when they sh...

Our meeting broke up, and I returned to prepare Azima for my departure. I had invented a tale to excuse my absence. I told her that the money which I had gained on my mercantile...

As we were to leave the village the next morning, I thought I might as well go and take leave of Mohun Lall, and accordingly went to his house in the evening.

I had now only two matters on my hands; one to discover Zora, if I could, the other to endeavour to get the bills of exchange I had brought with me cashed. Of the first I had bu...

have been successful; our faces will be bright in our employer's sight for this. And only think, to have succeeded so easily after this long watching! The old dog was as wary as...

We soon passed the suburbs of the city, and held on our way towards the Durgah. I was not without hope that we might fall in with Azima on the road; but in this I was disappoint...

My father counted out the money and handed it over to the Dullal; his countenance brightened as he viewed it, and he made numberless salams and protestations of thanks. "Now you...

At the head of the advance, which consisted of my thousand splendid horsemen, I was the first to cross the river, now fordable, and we encamped on its further bank, in the same...

Seated with the old Moola I have before mentioned, the Nuwab Subzee Khan Buhadoor (for by that name alone I knew him) was quaffing his bitter and intoxicating draught. Around hi...

"For the love of Alla! young man," cried a low and sweet voice as I passed under the gateway of a respectable-looking house; "for the love of Alla, enter, and save my mistress!"

When we returned to the cart, my first business was to soothe my poor Zora, whose screams, added to those of the old attendant, and the oaths, execrations, and shouts of the con...

"Ram! Ram! Meer Sahib," was the salutation of the Sahoukar as we met at the spot whither Bhikaree had guided us. "Ram! Ram! I am glad you have condescended to keep company with...

"'I thought I should have died, my son,' said my father, at length; 'and see what a black heart that villain must have to treat an old man after that fashion. My curses on him a...

"No; he is gone with a party of seven travellers towards Puttuncherroo, and has taken ten or fifteen of the best of the men with him; he will not be back probably before night,...

At the expiration of a week Ameer Ali sent word to me that he was ready to resume his narrative, and I lost no time in requesting him to repair to my residence. He arrived, and...

Bheer was sacked, and given up to rapine and excess for two whole days; and when we left it, scarcely a rag remained to the miserable inhabitants. It was piteous to see them rak...

of road disappeared under the hoofs of our fleet and hardy steeds. In far less time than it had taken us to come, we had reached Jhalone, unlooked for and unexpected, and with a...

I had not seen Bhudrinath now for some days, and fearing he might think me neglectful, I went to the serai in which he and the men had put up. "Ah!" cried he, when he saw me app...