"Enough!" again cried the Rajah; "I know it myself. I could have sworn to that diamond among a thousand. Away with him! chain him to the elephant; let him be dragged through the town, and proclamation made that he was a Thug."
"Stay," cried the Syud, who had not as yet spoken, "he may have something to urge in his defence. Ask him, and hear him."
"Speak!" cried the Rajah to my miserable father—"speak, O kumbukht!"
And then my father's proud spirit broke out. With the certainty of death before his eyes, he quailed not. While hope remained of life, he had clung to it, as every man will; and when I had expected a grovelling entreaty for his life to be spared, from his previous demeanour, he asked it not, but gloried in the cause for which he died.
"Yes," said he, drawing himself up, while his eye glistened proudly, "I scorn to die with a lie upon my lips. I killed Jeswunt Mul because he was a villain, as you are, Rajah! because he employed Thugs, and would not reward them, but wrung from them every rupee he could, as you do. I have murdered hundreds of men, because they were given into my hands by Alla; but I never destroyed one with the satisfaction I did your friend. Ay, you were friends and brothers in guilt, and you know it. My life! I care not for it. What has an old man to do with life? his enjoyments are gone, his existence is a burthen to him. A short time, and nature would have claimed me. You have anticipated the period. Yet, O Rajah! Bhowanee will question you for this deed—for the destruction of her votary. My blood be on your head, and the curse of a dying man be with you! You have deceived me, robbed me, shared my spoils, taken the produce of murder; nay, be not impatient, you know it is the truth, and that Alla, who is the judge of all, knows it also. He will cast your portion in Jehanum, as a kafir; and Bhowanee will rejoice that the destroyer of her votary writhes in the torments of the damned."
"Gag him! strike the kafir's mouth with a shoe!" roared the Rajah in a fury, more like that of a beast than a man, as he foamed at the mouth. "Away with him! and let his son look on his dying agony."
And they dragged us both forth,—I should not say my father, for his step was firm. I struggled against my tormentors, but it availed me not. "One word, my father!" cried I to him as we were brought near each other. "Wilt thou not speak to thy son?"
He turned his head, and a tear stood in his eye. "I leave thee, Ameer Ali; but thou knowest a believer's Paradise, and the joys which await him—the seventy virgins and everlasting youth. Thou art not my son; but I have loved thee as one, and may Alla keep thee!"
"No more!" cried the rough soldiers, striking him on the mouth, and dragging him forward.
"Revenge me!" exclaimed my father in Ramasee. "Tell the English of that monster's conduct to us; and when he is torn from his seat of pride, my soul will be happy in Paradise."