THE STATION 153 



but the leader had escaped. A reward had been offered 

 for his apprehension, dead or alive. 



It was the hot weather. We were returning from our 

 evening drive ; darkness was just setting in. As the 

 carriage drew up at the house a man rushed forward. 

 By the light of the lamp that hung in the porch we 

 could see that he was a policeman, and that he held 

 something in his hand wrapped up in a cotton cloth. 

 My brother stepped out. The policeman drew aside 

 the cloth, and we saw a human head. The eyes were 

 open and staring, and the countenance all smeared over 

 with dried, clotted blood. It was the head of the 

 leader of the dacoits. He had been discovered, had 

 resisted, and been slain. His head had been sent in 

 as proof of his death, in order to claim the reward. 



Everyone has heard of the Thugs. I will add a story 

 about them. One of their haunts was the old city of 

 Canouje. Not far from the city there was a well ; it was 

 known as the well of the " Bhuttyarah," from having been 

 constructed by a man of that caste. A bhuttyarah, 

 I may explain, is the man who cooks food for travellers 

 in a caravanserai. The well was a very large one, and 

 lined with masonry ; it had long been disused, and was 

 half choked up. Some seventy years ago, when the 

 Government commenced to put down the Thugs, many 

 of them turned informers. One of these informers 

 pointed out this well as the place where the Thugs 

 about Canouje hid away the bodies of their victims. 



I was once encamped near the well, and I heard the 

 finding of the bodies described by many persons who 

 were present when, in consequence of the informer's 



b 



