FUTTEHPORE SIKRI. 
181 
new moon, and the dusk of evening had scarcely 
fallen, when the Jaod Bhae was visited by the first 
devout observer of the Brahmin’s commands; and, 
having cast, with a hasty hand, his piece of silver, a 
four-anna-piece, within the doorway, he turned and 
beat a somewhat precipitate retreat. But the serjeant 
of the ambuscade having picked up the coin, naturally 
concluded that the donor must be a confederate of the 
coiners, and without turning out his men, he immedi- 
ately stole after the retiring Hindoo, and seized him ; 
stopping his mouth with his hand, to prevent alarm. 
He then conveyed him to the vault beneath the Jaod 
Bhae; the poor wretch, without doubt, being per- 
suaded all the time that he was about to be sacrificed 
to the offended saint. The serjeant in his turn, when 
he came to examine the man, mistook him for an 
accomplished villain, who, like all natives, had an 
ingenious excuse at his tongue’s end, ready for any 
emergency ; he therefore gagged him, and binding 
him hand and foot, left him upon his back in the 
coiner’s chamber ; and thus one after another, he con- 
tinued to seize no less than a dozen of these poor 
innocent people, including some few women ; until at 
last they arrived in such numbers, that he was unwil- 
ling to take charge of any more, and began to give 
some credence to the story which each told, and was 
ready to swear to. So he contented himself with 
those whom he had already taken, and continued his 
watch throughout the night, without meeting those 
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