I was going to speak again, but Bhudrinath stopped me. "What is the use?" said he; "the fellow is obstinate, and, depend upon it, if he were spared, it would only be to lead good men into danger, if not into destruction: let him die, he deserves it."
The Mangs looked to me for orders, and I told them to proceed; it was clearly of no use to delay. The robber was again tightly pinioned and thrown on the ground, and the Mang who held the knife he had been sharpening, dexterously cut both sinews of his legs close above the heel; he was then raised up, the noose put round his neck, and in another instant he was pulled up to the branch, and struggling in his death agony. "Pah!" said Bhudrinath, turning away, "it makes me sick; what a contrast this is to our work, where he who is to die scarcely knows that the handkerchief is about his neck before he is a dead man."
"You say truly," said I; "we have the advantage; but these Mangs are miserable, outcast wretches. What else could you expect from them? Now let us go to the camp; my father will be there, and we will see what this Kumal Khan had with him." When we arrived, we found that all his baggage had been examined. There were two boxes, the contents of which we looked to see with some impatience. One was nearly filled with papers relating to his business as a revenue-collector, and these were burned as fast as they could be looked over by me. In the bottom, however, was a bag filled with gold, which Bhudrinath held up in triumph.
"This is something better than musty paper," said he, putting it on one side; "now for the other box."
It was broken open, and proved a rich prize, indeed. After the clothes with which the top was covered had been removed, a number of bars of silver met our expecting eyes. The box was not, however, emptied, and under another layer of clothes were ten bars of gold, of the same size as the silver ones.
"Here is the cream of the matter," cried Bhudrinath, as he took up the first; "Alla knows how much there is! but it is clear the man was worth killing; and finely, indeed, must he have plundered the unfortunate cultivators."
The bars of gold and silver were made over to my father, to be placed among the other plunder we had got; and all that now remained to be seen were the clothes he had worn and his waist-bag. There was not, however, much in it. "Stay," said Bhudrinath, "here is another bundle, which was in the humeanah."
I took it from him, and unrolled fold after fold of clean paper. "Why, there is nothing here," said I; "I suppose he kept this to write on."
"Go on to the end, nevertheless," said my father; "let us see all."