Already on the road I was joined by a hurrying stream of men and
women, principally men. My suspicions were aroused. I knew from
experience that it was not a usual crowd of pilgrims. Every man was
armed, not only with knives, but guns and revolvers. Some of them were
undoubtedly deserted sepoys who had stolen their weapons. Moreover,
they exchanged a signal which I recognized and, in order to escape
detection, imitated. It was the signal which in past generations
revealed one member of the Thug fraternity to another."
"Thugs!" exclaimed Stafford, with a faintly skeptical smile.
"Do not misunderstand me," Nicholson said. "I am not going to recall
to your minds the nursery horrors with which our ayahs regaled our
childish imaginations. I will only emphasize one fact. The Thugs were
not and are not merely a band of murderous and treacherous robbers.
They belong to the priesthood, they are the deputed servants of the
goddess Kali, and their task is the extermination of the enemy--of the
foreigner, that is to say--in this case, of ourselves."
Stafford glanced at the Colonel. The latter's face was set and grave.
"I do not for a moment suggest that the crowd with which I traveled
were Thugs," Nicholson continued. "I know that they were not. But they
had adopted the Thug sign because they had adopted the Thug mission.
Not, however, till we had passed the gates and reached the palace did
I realize the gravity of the situation.
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