Historical fiction; India -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction; Thugs (Indic criminal group) -- Fiction
To arrange our future proceedings was by no means an easy matter, as
it was necessary to get past Bassim, where the Sahoukar had friends;
and his cart and bullocks might possibly be recognized in the town. My
father's advice was to travel till daylight, and then to withdraw to
one side of the road, as far from observation as possible; to remain
there as long as we could, and then to push on beyond Bassim. At this
halt, too, there was to be a grand division of the spoil, at least, as
much of it as could be divided; and Hoosein's party was to separate
from us and pursue their road, in the best way they could, in the
direction which has been pointed out to them. Accordingly we again
started, and, after passing some villages, halted about sunrise at some
distance from the road, near a grove of trees, in which there was a
well of water. Before the men betook themselves to cooking their meal,
after the march, they were all assembled; and the quantity of goor
having been brought, the ceremony of the Tupounee was performed as I
have before described. I was now entitled to a seat on the blanket with
the other Bhuttotes--I was their equal! The ceremony ended, I untied
the knot of my handkerchief, as directed by my father, and taking out
the piece of silver, presented it, with some rupees, to my gooroo,
touching his feet at the same time in reverence. This was the last of
my ceremonies of initiation. I was a Bhuttote, had fairly killed my
man, and held myself to be the equal of any of my associates.
After this my father and Hoosein brought forth all the plunder of our
late enterprise. It was magnificent: there was a good quantity of
gold and silver in money, but the principal valuables were the jewels
which the Sahoukar was taking to Hyderabad for sale, and the cloths
and brocades on the bullocks--they were of the richest description.
The distribution of these was a matter of great difficulty, and it was
impossible to satisfy every one; besides, the pearls and diamonds would
have lost a great deal of their value by being divided among the men.
So it was agreed to share the ready money, cooking utensils, and other
effects of the Sahoukar, also the least valuable cloths, into two equal
portions as nearly as possible, in proportion to the number of men of
each band; that my father was to have charge of the jewels, which he
was to sell at Hyderabad to the best advantage, as also of the most
valuable cloths; and that the proceeds of these were not to be divided
until we again reached our place of rendezvous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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