Page:Confessions of a Thug.djvu/134

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
104
CONFESSIONS OF A THUG.

per for you to draw up a statement of what you have to say in your defence, in order that its relation may be more succinct and more readily comprehended.'

"My father then begged not to be confined like a thief, and offered the two sahoukars as his securities to appear whenever he might be called on. This was admitted, in spite of Brij Lall's protestations that no securities would bind us, and we walked away in company with our friends; my father, as he passed him, twirling his mustachios and looking askance at him, with many a muttered Inshalla, and Mashalla, all of which Brij Lall answered with looks of the most deadly spite and hatred.

"In the course of the evening an account was drawn up in Persian of the whole of Brij Lall's conduct from first to last; and we took it to the durbar in every expectation of seeing him disgraced before our eyes, for his unwarrantable treatment of us. But we were doomed to 'eat disappointment.' The petition was read by Narayun Pundit, and he proceeded to pass judgment in the case; which was, that Brij Lall had much exceeded his authority in imprisoning my father, that he had acted wrongly in