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, and could not understand how it was that we had come so far and were going so much further without an object; and I have no doubt had we not acted as we did, and disclosed our intentions to, or asked for assistance from them, that they would have either betrayed us to the village authorities, or insisted on such a share of the spoil, which we dared not have refused, as would have materially lessened ours.

After prayers we returned to the place where we had put up, and found a man belonging to the Sahoukar waiting for us. He said his master would stay that evening where he was, with a friend, instead of coming outside the village to our encampment, but that my father was to leave some men with him as a guard; and that he would set out early in the night, as he was determined to go on to Bassim, a town some distance off, where he had another friend, whom he wished to visit; that as it was so long a march we must start early, so as to allow time for a halt for refreshment at a village half way.

My father did not like the idea of sending the men into the village, lest they should be recognized as Thugs by any of the Thug villagers; yet he could not but acquiesce, and some