120 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
her self-possession and looking upon her prostrate 
enemy, she gave a glance which spoke her gratitude 
far more eloquently than words, and burst into a 
violent flood of tears. 
" There was now neither time for delay nor medi- 
tation. I resolved to quit the place immediately, 
knowing that here I could no longer be safe as the 
destroyer of one so highly venerated by the supersti- 
tious inhabitants of the neighbourhood. I was con- 
scious that my life would be sought with the most 
ferocious hostility, as soon as the manner of the fakeer’s 
death should transpire. As the interior of his cell was 
never visited, I knew that I was secure from detection 
for the moment. I, however, prepared for my instant 
departure, and the gentle creature whom I had so 
opportunely rescued, grateful past expression for her 
release from the hateful tyranny to which she had 
been so long subjected, gladly consented to become my 
companion. I took my way across the country, ac- 
companied by my lovely Hindoo disguised in a Maho- 
medan costume, to a convenient place of embarkation 
down the river, where I hired a small boat and we 
proceeded with all despatch to Calcutta. During our 
passage, which was rapid, as the rains had only just 
ceased and the current was therefore strong, my 
companion related to me how she came under the 
protection of the monster from whom I had so fortu- 
nately rescued her. 
f<r She told me that she was the daughter of a wealthy 
Cshatrya,* in the neighbourhood of Delhi, and near 
* The Hindoos are divided into four casts : the Bramins, 
the Cshatryas, the Vaisyas, and the Sudras. The first are said. 
