"Now trim the lamp," said I to Bhudrinath. "Call up three of the men, and let the others remain below to look out."
Bhudrinath tore a piece of rag off the clothes of the dead Fakeer, which he twisted up into a thick wick and put into the oil vessel; its strong glare lighted up the interior of the cave, and we saw everything distinctly.
"Here is the wall which I spoke of," said Shekhjee, "and we had better search behind it." We did so. There were piles of earthen jars in one corner, which we at first supposed to contain grain or flour, and indeed the first two we uncovered had rice and dal in them; the third felt heavy.
"This has something in it beyond rice," said I; "examine it closely." The mouth was stuffed with rags, but when they were removed we beheld it filled with money—rupees and pice mixed together.
"This was not wise," said Bhudrinath; "the Shah Sahib ought not to have mixed his copper and silver, the silver will be tarnished; but we can clean it."
The next pot was the same: the last was the best; it was full of gold and silver ornaments, rings, anklets, and armlets. We shuddered to see that many of them were stained with blood. "The villains!" I exclaimed; "that wretch then told the truth when he confessed himself to be a murderer; the city is well rid of him. But we must not stand talking. Do one of ye tie these things up and be ready for a start, while we look out for further spoil."
But there was nothing else in this corner, no bales of cloth or other articles as we had expected. We were looking about to find any other place of concealment, and had nearly given up our search, when Surfuraz Khan, who had gone outside, called to us. "Come here," he cried; "there is a place here which looks suspicious."
We ran to the spot, and found the hole he had discovered to be between two rocks; it was dark within, and a man could but just enter by crawling upon his hands and knees. "Give me the light," said I; "I will enter it if the devil were inside."
"Better the devil than any of this infernal gang," said Bhudrinath to me as I entered.
I found no one, and the space within, which was so low that I could scarcely stand upright, was filled with bundles. "Neither the devil nor any of the gang are here," cried I to those outside, "so do some of you come in quickly and see what I have found."