Page:Confessions of a Thug.djvu/170

 "Manjeh!" said the man; "it is cleared, and it is all ready. See you yon low hills? A streamlet, as I told you, runs from them; and it is a rare bhil that we have made, Jemadar Sahib. You will say we have done well."

"And how far may it be?" demanded my father.

"About half a coss," said the man; "a short distance from hence the road becomes stony, and continues so till you are above the pass—take advantage of it;" and he fell in among the others.

The men were silently warned to be at their posts, and each man, or two men, as it was necessary, placed himself close to the one to whom he had been assigned. By designed obstructions in front, the bullocks belonging to the Sahoukar, with their attendants, were brought immediately about the cart in which he rode, and the whole being gathered into one place, were the easier to be secured. The preparations again roused me, and I grasped the handkerchief firmly, thinking every moment that the signal was about to be made; but we still crept on at a slow pace, for the road was narrow and lined by thorny bushes; and the men in front proceeding as slowly as possible, we