they implored the Mongol officer to render this
service to the dead. He dismounted from his horse, unable to resist
their pleadings, and feeling bound by his religion to accede to their
request.

Having discarded his sword and pistols, he performed the necessary
ablutions, and then approached the grave to recite the prayers for the
dead. Suddenly cloths were thrown over his own and his servants'
heads, and after a few moments all three were precipitated into the
yawning hole.

It may be asked why so much cunning was needed in order to add a few
more members to the kingdom of the dead. The reason is that the Thugs
were forbidden to shed human blood. The sacrifice could only be
accomplished through death by strangling. It might often be easy
enough to fall upon solitary travellers, but woe to the Thug who in any
way brought about the shedding of blood! Consequently they had to have
recourse to all sorts of ingenious methods for allaying suspicion, so
that their victims might be hastened into the next world according to
the rites approved by their implacable goddess. They believed in
division of labour, and always acted collectively, employing some to
entice the victim into the trap, and others to perform the act of
strangulation, while in the third category were those who first dug the
graves and afterwards rendered them invisible.

The murders were always accomplished with a kind of cold-blooded
fanaticism, admitting neither mercy nor pity, for the Thug, convinced
that his action would count as a special virtue for himself in the next
life, also believed that his victim would benefit from it.

Feringhi, one of the most famous of Indian stranglers, who also held a
responsible official position, was once asked if he was not ashamed to
kill his neighbour.

"No," he replied, "because one cannot be ashamed to fulfil the divine
will. In doing so one finds happiness. No man who has once understood
and practised the religion of Thuggee will ever cease to conform to it
to the end of his days. I was initiated into it by my father when I
was very young, and if I were to live for a thousand years I should
still continue to follow in his footsteps."

The Thugs of each district were led by one whom they called their
_jemadar_, to whom they gave implicit obedience. The utmost discretion
reigned among them, and they never questioned the plans of their
superiors. We can imagine how difficult it was to combat a fanatici