"Well," said he, "come this evening; if we can't decoy any one, we will kill somebody for amusement and practice."
"I agree," said I; "for by Alla! I must do something. I am as melancholy as a camel, and my blood, which boiled enough yesterday, seems now scarcely to run through me;—it is not to be borne."
I found when I reached home that the dullal had arrived, and with him the sahoukar's clerk, and some porters to carry the goods, as well as fellows with matchlocks and lighted matches, and others with swords and shields, to escort them. I stared at them. "One would think you were going to battle, Séthjee," said I, "with all those fierce fellows; I am half afraid of them."
The fellows laughed; and the clerk replied, "They are necessary, and we always have them. If our goods were stolen, nay, carried off before our eyes, should we get any redress? no indeed: we therefore protect our property the best way we can."
"Now," said my father, "take your goods and be off with them; they are no longer mine, and I fear to allow them to remain under my roof."
"Surely," said the clerk, "they will be out of your way directly; and now let us speak about your money, or will you take some merchandise as part of it?"
"Not a bit, not a bit," replied my father; "I want all my money in rupees—no, stay, not all in rupees; give me five thousand in silver and the rest in gold, it will be easier carried."
"I suppose you mean five thousand rupees, and the rest in gold bars; well, you must purchase gold according to weight, and the best is twenty rupees a tola;—but you had better take bills, and the exchange is favourable."
"No, no; no bills," said my father, "but the gold. If I remember rightly, the price of gold was high when I left Delhi, and was likely to remain so; and I have plenty of persons for my guard if robbers should attack me."