[CHAPTER XXXVII.]
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 my mind. I spoke to them as follows: "You have seen, my brethren, that Ghuffoor Khan is a devil; such a person can hardly be called a man: bad as these Pindharees are, he is the worst among them, and is unfit to live. You, Motee and Peer Khan, remember the fate of the Brahmin girl at Karinjah; you may remember my ill-suppressed indignation, which then almost impelled me to destroy this fiend; and I would have done it, but that I felt his fate was not in my hands. I felt that Alla would sooner or later urge me on to be the humble means of a retributive justice overtaking him. I have hitherto refrained, though I have sometimes fancied his hour was come. I thought that some crime blacker than any previous one would at last be committed by him, and it has been done. You all saw what it was. Can he ever do worse?"
"He cannot!" cried my men with one voice; "he has reached the mark, and he is ours."
"He shall be so," said I: "now listen. You know I have still three bottles of the sweet wine of the Feringhees, which I brought with me from Guntoor; he is very fond of it, and will easily be persuaded to come here and drink it with us; I will dose his share with opium, and after a few cups, he will become stupified, and will fall an easy prey to us."
"Good!" cried Peer Khan, "it is an excellent plan. What say you to putting it into execution this very night?"
"Not to-night," I said; "we must be cautious in this immense camp. To-morrow let my tent be pitched on the utmost verge of it; nay, a short distance beyond it,—and in the dead of the night, when all are overpowered by sleep, he can be despatched."
"I beg to represent," said Peer Khan, "that Ghuffoor Khan's saddle is well lined; could we not get possession of it?"
"I have been thinking about it," replied I, "but I do not see how we are to get it without much risk and fear of discovery."
Peer Khan pondered for a moment; he then said, "I have a plan, Jemadar, which you may perhaps be able to improve upon; and, Inshalla! we will have the saddle. What I say is this: when the Khan is pretty well intoxicated, do you propose to him to sleep in your tent, and to send for his horse and saddle, so as to be near him to mount in the morning. If the saddle is brought, we can empty it of its contents and bury it with him; if not, we can only rejoice at having done a good action in having destroyed him."
"I am not sure," observed Motee, "that the omens will be good; we had better try them."