Rujub, the Juggler | Page 4

prison. Most of the latter whom death has spared are free
now, and with many of them have I talked. They are most of them old,

and few would take the road again, but scarce one but has trained up his
son or grandson to the work; not to practice it,--the hand of the whites
was too heavy before, and the gains are not large enough to tempt men
to run the risk--but they teach them for the love of the art. To a
worshiper of the goddess there is a joy in a cleverly contrived plan and
in casting the roomal round the neck of the victim, that can never die.
Often in my young days, when perhaps twelve of us were on the road in
a party, we made less than we could have done by labor, but none
minded.
"We were sworn brothers; we were working for Kali, and so that we
sent her victims we cared little; and even after fifteen or twenty years
spent in the Feringhee's prisons, we love it still; none hate the white
man as we do; has he not destroyed our profession? We have two
things to work for; first, for vengeance; second, for the certainty that if
the white man's Raj were at an end, once again would the brotherhood
follow their profession, and reap booty for ourselves and victims for
Kali; for, assuredly, no native prince would dare to meddle with us.
Therefore, upon every man who was once a Thug, and upon his sons
and grandsons, you may depend. I do not say that they would be useful
for fighting, for we have never been fighters, but the stranglers will be
of use. You can trust them with missions, and send them where you
choose. From their fathers' lips they have learnt all about places and
roads; they can decoy Feringhee travelers, the Company's servants or
soldiers, into quiet places, and slay them. They can creep into
compounds and into houses, and choose their victims from the sleepers.
You can trust them, Rajah, for they have learned to hate, and each in
his way will, when the times comes, aid to stir up men to rise. The past
had almost become a dream, but I have roused it into life again, and
upon the descendants of the stranglers throughout India you can count
surely."
"You have not mentioned my name?" the Rajah said suddenly, looking
closely at the man as he put the question.
"Assuredly not, your highness; I have simply said deliverance is at
hand; the hour foretold for the end of the Raj of the men from beyond

the sea will soon strike, and they will disappear from the land like
fallen leaves; then will the glory of Kali return, then again will the
brotherhood take to the road and gather in victims. I can promise that
every one of those whose fathers or grandfathers or other kin died by
the hand of the Feringhee, or suffered in his prisons, will do his share
of the good work, and be ready to obey to the death the orders which
will reach him."
"It is good," the Rajah said; "you and your brethren will have a rich
harvest of victims, and the sacred cord need never be idle. Go; it is well
nigh morning, and I would sleep."
But not for some time did the Rajah close his eyes; his brain was busy
with the schemes which he had long been maturing, but was only now
beginning to put into action.
"It must succeed," he said to himself; "all through India the people will
take up arms when the Sepoys give the signal by rising against their
officers. The whites are wholly unsuspicious; they even believe that I, I
whom they have robbed, am their friend. Fools! I hold them in the
hollow of my hand; they shall trust me to the last, and then I will crush
them. Not one shall escape me! Would I were as certain of all the other
stations in India as I am of this. Oude, I know, will rise as one man; the
Princes of Delhi I have sounded; they will be the leaders, though the
old King will be the nominal head; but I shall pull the strings, and as
Peishwa, shall be an independent sovereign, and next in dignity to the
Emperor. Only nothing must be done until all is ready; not a movement
must be made until I feel sure that every native regiment from Calcutta
to the North is ready to rise."
And so, until the day had fully broken, the Rajah of Bithoor thought
over his plans--the man who had a few hours before so sumptuously
entertained the military and civilians of Cawnpore, and the man who