"Taajoob!" said he, "wonderful! I could have sworn they both looked at me; but I am growing old and foolish." Well, Sahib, as I said, I gazed and gazed at them, so that I wonder even now, they saw nothing extraordinary in it, and did not remark it. But no: the old man continued a relation of some treaties the Nagpoor Rajah was forming with the English, and was blaming him for entering into any league with them against his brethren, when my father called out "Tumbako lao (bring tobacco)!" It was the signal! quicker than thought the Thug had thrown his handkerchief round the neck of the old man, another one his round that of the son, and in an instant they were on their backs struggling in the agonies of death. Not a sound escaped them but an indistinct gurgling in their throats; and as the Bhuttotes quitted their fatal hold, after a few moments, others, who had been waiting for the purpose, took up the bodies and bore them away to the already-prepared grave. "Now for the rest," cried my father in a low tone: "some of you rush on the servants; see that no noise is made; the bullock-driver and others can be dealt with easily." Some of the men ran to the place the _khayet_ had chosen, and surrounded the unsuspecting cart-driver and the other servants, who were cooking under a tree. I saw and heard a scuffle; but they also were all dead ere they could cry out. "Come!" said my father and Hoosein, taking me by the arms and hurrying me along; "come and see how they are disposed of." I went, or was rather dragged along, to one side of our encampment, where there was a ravine some feet deep, in the bottom of which a hole had been dug, and by the side of which eight bodies were lying. The father and son, his two wives, the bullock-driver, two male servants, and an old woman; also a servant, who was in the inclosure with the women. The bodies were nearly naked, and presented a ghastly spectacle, as they lay in a confused heap, but just visible from the brink of the ravine. "Are they all here?" asked my father. "Yes, Khodawund," said one of the Lughaees, whom I knew. "Then in with them!" cried my father; and they were quickly deposited in their last resting-place, the head of one over the feet of another, so that they might lie close. "We had better open them," said the Lugha, "for the ground is loose and they will swell." So gashes were made in their abdomens, and the earth quickly filled in on them; it was stamped down, the top smoothed, and in a few moments no one could have discovered that eight human beings had been secreted beneath the spot. We turned away from it, and every one betook himself to repose.