Confessions of a Thug

by Meadows Taylor

"You have done well," he said in a low and kind voice; "you will receive the reward of this soon; now follow me, we will go to the grave. Ere this the bodies have been collected, and I myself must see that they are properly disposed of. There will be a noise about this business, and it will need great exertion for us to get out of the road we are now travelling."

I followed him. We descended into the bed of the stream, and were led to the grave by one of the men; others bearing the body of the Sahoukar followed. We passed up the bed of the stream for a short distance; and near the mouth of a small nulla, the bed of which was dry, a number of the men were standing.

"The grave?" asked my father.

"It is up there," said one; "you will have to creep, and the thorns are very bad."

"It matters not," he replied; and we entered the place.

The banks of the rivulet were perhaps two or three yards high, and the bed was so narrow that but two persons could advance abreast. The creepers and trees were matted overhead, and the sides so thick that it was impossible that any one could have got down from above. The tangled character of the spot increased as we proceeded, until it became necessary to free our clothes from the thorns which caught us at every step. In a few moments we heard the sound of voices, and after creeping almost on all fours through a hole which had apparently been forced through the underwood, we came upon the grave. There was only one; it occupied almost the entire breadth of the stream; it was very deep, and the earth, or rather sand, had been thrown out on each end. The Lughaees were sitting there, sharpening stakes cut from the jungle; but they could scarcely be seen from the darkness of the place, which the thick wood above only partially allowed the moonbeams to penetrate. They were conversing in a low tone in the slang of the band, which I had not learned: my father spoke to them, or rather to their leader.

"You have had your wits about you," he said; "and we will think well of you when we make the distribution: this is a grave that even a jackal could not discover. Again I say, Peer Khan, you have done this properly; and it is well I have seen it that I may speak of you as you deserve. But you must be quick—the night advances."

"It is finished, Khodawund," replied the man; "we do but wait for another body, which they say is coming, and the filling up will be done immediately." As he spoke, the body of the Sahoukar was brought up by three men, who railed at it for its weight.

"It is their wont," he said; "do not speak to them—only watch what they do; for you must see all, that you may be fully acquainted with your duties." I was silent. The corpse was dragged to the brink and thrown in, as also that of the servant who had been killed close to the Sahoukar; incisions were made in their abdomens, and sharpened stakes driven through them.

"Were it not for the precaution you see," said my father, "the ground might swell, and the jackals would drag out the bodies; in this way, however, it is impossible."