“He was on his
way from Mhow to Bombay. We studiously avoided
him.
He proceeded next morning
with a number of travelers who had sought
his protection, and
they took the road to Baroda.”
We do not know who he was; he flits across the page
of this rusty old book and disappears in the obscurity
beyond; but he is an impressive figure, moving through
that valley of death serene and unafraid, clothed
in the might of the English name.
We have now followed the big official book through,
and we understand what Thuggee was, what a bloody
terror it was, what a desolating scourge it was.
In 1830 the English found this cancerous organization
imbedded in the vitals of the empire, doing its devastating
work in secrecy, and assisted, protected, sheltered,
and hidden by innumerable confederates —big
and little native chiefs, customs officers, village
officials, and native police, all ready to lie for
it, and the mass of the people, through fear, persistently
pretending to know nothing about its doings; and this
condition of things had existed for generations, and
was formidable with the sanctions of age and old custom.
If ever there was an unpromising task, if ever there
was a hopeless task in the world, surely it was offered
here—the task of conquering Thuggee.
But that little handful of English officials in India
set their sturdy and confident grip upon it, and ripped
it out, root and branch! How modest do Captain
Vallancey’s words sound now, when we read them
again, knowing what we know:
“The day that
sees this far-spread evil completely eradicated from
India, and known only
in name, will greatly tend to immortalize
British rule in the
East.”
It would be hard to word a claim more modestly than
that for this most noble work.
Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full
value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it
with.
—Pudd’nhead
Wilson’s New Calendar.
We left Bombay for Allahabad by a night train.
It is the custom of the country to avoid day travel
when it can conveniently be done. But there
is one trouble: while you can seemingly “secure”
the two lower berths by making early application,
there is no ticket as witness of it, and no other
producible evidence in case your proprietorship shall
chance to be challenged. The word “engaged”
appears on the window, but it doesn’t state
who the compartment is engaged, for. If your
Satan and your Barney arrive before somebody else’s
servants, and spread the bedding on the two sofas
and then stand guard till you come, all will be well;
but if they step aside on an errand, they may find
the beds promoted to the two shelves, and somebody
else’s demons standing guard over their master’s
beds, which in the meantime have been spread upon your
sofas.
You do not pay anything extra for your sleeping place;
that is where the trouble lies. If you buy a
fare-ticket and fail to use it, there is room thus
made available for someone else; but if the place were
secured to you it would remain vacant, and yet your
ticket would secure you another place when you were
presently ready to travel.
