20 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
begging for God’s sake either Mr. Ricketts or Major 
Raper to go with him. The latter went, and the 
Rohillah, after a horrible pause, in which he seemed 
still to be weighing the sweetness of revenge against 
the promises held out to him, rose, took his wife by 
the hand, and led her away. He was not, however, 
satisfied with the security of his continuance in Oude, 
but soon after surrendered himself to the British, say- 
ing that he knew he must look forward to a confine- 
ment for some time, but he preferred their severities 
to the tender mercies of the minister, who, in spite of 
his promise, had, he was convinced, already laid snares 
for him. He is now a prisoner in the castle of Alla- 
habad, but it is generally believed that he has made 
his peace, and that his confinement will not be a long 
one, though his offences before were serious enough, 
and though it would be a strange reason for pardoning 
him that he had been about to kill the two children 
of the prime minister of an allied power.” 
The Rohillahs are generally not only a fierce and 
intractable, but also a cruel and treacherous people. 
In perfidy they are not outdone by the very lowest 
classes among the Hindoos, with whom this vice is 
common to a proverb. That there are, however, some 
exceptions, the exceptions nevertheless proving the 
rule, may be gathered from a story current in the 
neighbourhood of Moradabad prior to the suppression 
of the Dacoit gangs in that province, during the first 
decade of the present century. 
A European sergeant having deserted from his regi- 
ment stationed at Cawnpoor, directed his route towards 
Delhi, hiding himself in the jungles by day, and pur- 
