"Away with him!" cried Mohun Lall to the Mangs; "see that you do your work properly."
"And our mamool (customary present), Maharaj, you must not forgot that."
"No, no," cried he; "but away with ye; I am polluted by your presence; go to the Kotwal after you have done, and he will have received orders to give you a sheep and as much liquor as will make you all drunk."
The fellows made many most profound salams, and went off with their wretched companion. "Where will they hang him?" said I; "I should like to see him again, and try if I can't persuade him to live to become a decent fellow."
"Somewhere beyond the gate," said Mohun Lall: "I do not know the place myself, but my people will show you. You will do little good, however, I am afraid; and after all, why should you trouble yourself about him?"
"It is no trouble," I replied; "I have simply a curiosity upon the subject, and will see the last of him."
"I will accompany you," said Bhudrinath; and we took our leave and followed the executioners. About an arrow's flight from the gate were two scraggy, gnarled, and almost leafless neem-trees, beneath which stood the group we sought, and round them all the urchins and idle men of the village. We hastened up to them, and found that everything was prepared: a rope with a noose in it hung over a branch, and one of the Mangs was coolly sharpening a knife upon an old stone idol, which lay beneath the tree—for what purpose I could not make out; however, my business was not with them, but with the wretch who was so near his death. He had seen us approach, and I thought was urging the Mangs to despatch him before we came up; but they did not do so, as they imagined we brought some other orders to them. I addressed myself to the robber: "Will you not live?" said I; "so young as you are, have you no love of life? I now again promise you protection if you will confess, as you have been asked to do before."
"Let the cords be somewhat loosened which bind my arms," said the robber, "and I will speak to you; at present, I am in too much pain to talk."
"Loosen them," said I to the Mangs; "and one of you hold the rope in case he attempts to escape."
The robber smiled faintly at what I said, and continued:—"You have taken an interest in me, and although I owe my present condition to you, yet sooner or later I should have come to the same end, or fallen by some shot, or cut of a sword; therefore I forgive you my death. But, again I repeat, I have no wish to live; nor, miserable as I am, can you suppose I would purchase my life by an act of treachery to my companions. Had my father lived, and remained in Mohun Lall's power, I would have promised anything; but he is dead: my uncle, too, fell by the hands of one of your men in the attack on your cart; and whom have I left in this world to care for, that I should live? One day has seen the end of my family; and it was our fate. Yet bear to Mohun Lall my hate, and the curses of a dying man. It is he who has killed me, and for this he will have to pay a fearful retribution. And now," said he, turning to the Mangs, "do your horrible office; I have no more to say."