Seventeen treasure-bearers lodged in the grove near that
town on their way from Jubbulpore to Sagar. At night they were set
upon by a large gang of Thugs, and sixteen of them strangled; but the
seventeenth laid hold of the noose before it could be brought to bear
upon his throat, pulled down the villain who held it, and made his
way good to the town. The Raja, Dharak Singh, went to the spot with
all the followers he could collect; but he found there nothing but
the sixteen naked bodies lying in the grove, with their eyes
apparently starting out of their sockets. The Thugs had all gone off
with the treasure and their clothes, and the Raja searched for them
in vain.
A native commissioned officer of a regiment of native infantry one
day told me that, while he was on duty over some Thugs at Lucknow,
one of them related with great seeming pleasure the following case,
which seemed to him one of the most remarkable that he had heard them
speak of during the time they were under his charge.
'A stout Mogul[7] officer of noble bearing and singularly handsome
countenance, on his way from the Punjab to Oudh, crossed the Ganges
at Garhmuktesar Ghat, near Meerut, to pass through Muradabad and
Bareilly.
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