Page:Confessions of a Thug.djvu/94

 with better hope of booty from the chance of falling in with travellers, who also take advantage of the break in the weather to commence long journeys. Above all, it is a day peculiarly sacred to Bhowanee, our patroness and goddess. Still, being a Moosulman, I could not then see why such respect was paid to the festival of the Dasera, or indeed why it was kept at all; and I applied to my father for a solution of my doubts on the subject.

"It is necessary to your fully understanding this," said he, "that I should give you an outline of our belief in the divine origin of our profession, which is intimately connected with the faith of the Hindoos, and by whom we Moosulmans have been instructed in the art of Thuggee."

"This is wonderful, indeed," said I; "how do you reconcile any connection between the faith of unbelievers and that of the blessed prophet?"

"I cannot pretend to solve the difficulty," said my father; "but as their religion is far more ancient than ours, and no doubt had a divine origin, there are many points in it which one of the true faith may follow without offence, so that he does not join them in all their forms and professions. Indeed, this is