bers, and should not have slept a wink all night, while here I need not even to be watchful, since I am assured by the Khan Sahib,' pointing to my father, 'that I shall be well taken care of."
"Ay!" growled out in a whisper an old Thug who sat behind me, "he will be well taken care of sure enough, I will see to that."
"How?" said I.
"He gave the sign, by which I knew him to be one of the Bhuttotes or stranglers who had been selected.
"I have an old grudge against him," he continued, "and the time is come when I can repay it."
"Tell me how it happened," said I in a low tone, for the man's face wore a savage expression as he said it.
"Not now," said he, "how can I? I will tell you to-morrow night when we meet in the mujlis[1]: that man is Brij Lall, as great a rascal as ever lived, one who has committed more murders and more villanies in his life than any of us Thugs. But his cup is full, his breath is already in his mouth; one squeeze from me, and it will go forth never to return."
- ↑ Assembly.
