e saddle and strangle him; but if, as happened occasionally,
a single Thug managed to kill a man on horseback, he obtained a great
reputation, which even descended to his children. On the other hand,
if a strangler was unlucky or clumsy, so that the cloth fell on
the victim's head or face, or he got blood on his clothes or other
suspicious signs, and these accidents recurred, he was known as Bisul,
and was excluded from the office of strangler on account of presumed
unfitness for the duty. When it was necessary for some reason to murder
a party on the march, some _belhas_ or scouts were sent on ahead to
choose a _beil_ or suitable place for the business, and see that no
one was coming in the opposite direction; and when the leader said,
'Wash the cup,' it was a signal for the scouts to go forward for this
purpose. If a traveller had a dog with him the dog was also killed,
lest he might stay beside his master's grave and call attention to
it. Another device in case of difficulty was for one of the Thugs to
feign sickness. The Garru or man who did this fell down on a sudden
and pretended to be taken violently ill. Some of his friends raised
and supported him, while others brought water and felt his pulse;
and at last one of them pretended that a charm would restore him. All
were then requested to sit down, the pot of water being in the centre;
all were desired to take off their belts, if they had any, and uncover
their necks, and lastly to look up and see if they could count a
certain number of stars. While they were thus occupied intently gazing
at the sky to carry out the charm for the recovery of the sick man,
the cloths were passed round their necks and they were strangled.

5. Account of certain murders

The secrecy and adroitness with which the Thugs conducted their murders
are well illustrated by the narrative of the assassination of a native
official or pleader at Lakhnadon in Seoni as given by one of the gang:
[684] "We fell in with the Munshi and his family at Chhapara between
Nagpur and Jubbulpore; and they came on with us to Lakhnadon, where
we found that some companies of a native regiment under European
officers were expected the next morning. It was determined to put
them all to death that evening as the Munshi seemed likely to join
the soldiers. The encampment was near the village and the Munshi's
tent was pitched close to us. In the afternoon some of the officers'
tents came on in advance and were