Among the Thugs.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 31, 5 January 1884, Page 5

Among the Thugs.

A native gentleman, -who hail come to Lucknow for a sum of money, was returning one day before the suppression of Thugism to his residence at some distance in the country. He was a Mussulman of powerful build, and well armed, and started on a strong and fleet horse.- As he journeyed he reached a plantations and, after safely passing through, was leaving it, when,lo ! two men, in rags and dust, stretched out their arms, and cried, " For Allah's sake, y e us alms; ,we, are dying, for want of food !" But, brandishing* his whip round him, he galloped past. In the evening he arrived at a khan (inn), in which he pur« posed resting fcr the night. There he found among the occupants three Mussulman gentlemen, who, entering .casually into conversation with him,, stated that they were travelling together for the sake of safety, and had a considerable amount of coin with them,some of which they, as by accident, let him see. As it turned out that their journey, at least for some distance, was on the same road, they begged to be allowed to accompany him, and be further protected by his arms ; but he, remarking that their horses were not so fleet as his, and his business was urgent, politely declined their society. He therefore in the morning started without them. Towards sunset he was approaching his destination, but had to pass over a track of treeless and sandy country, and here his eye was arrested by an open grave, with a body at its side wrapt in grave-clothes, with its head towards Mecca, and two men standing by. As they caught sight of him they ran towards him bewailing the fate of their friend, and crying, " For Allah's sake have compassion ! Our brother is dead, and we know not the words of the futwah (opening chapter of the Koran), and dare not bury him without uttering them. You must know them ;if you desire salvation you will come and repeat them. Have pity, for Allah's sake !" Here \\ as a sore , test of the piety and loyalty demanded by his faith. As soon as a man is laid ' in his graye — so reads the legend — the two angels of judgment will address him, oneto take cognisance of his good deeds, and the other of his evil deeds, and the first question will be, Was the futwah recited when he was buried ? To suffer a man to be buried without it was to bring upon himself the curse of Allah and his prophet ("blessings on his head!"), and for this he will have himself, when buried, to suffer through the angels of judgment. How can he refuse ? He gets off his hovse and approaches the grave. But he must not recite the words on so solemn an occasion with arms upon' him. These are taken off and laid on the ground. The two men stand one on each side of him, and, kneeling, he begins the recitation. But scarcely have the opening words been uttered before the two men drag him to the earth, and the body in the grave-clothes springs to his neck, and in a few seconds he is strangled, stabbed, robbed of his gold, and buried in the grave. All the men who had accosted him in his journey were Thugs, and one of them, in proof of the murder, led the way to the grave, where the bones of their hunted victim were found. — " Leisure Hour."