“He was on his way from Mhow to Bombay.  We studiously avoided him. 
     He proceeded next morning with a number of travelers who had sought
     his protection, and they took the road to Baroda.”

We do not know who he was; he flits across the page of this rusty old book and disappears in the obscurity beyond; but he is an impressive figure, moving through that valley of death serene and unafraid, clothed in the might of the English name.

We have now followed the big official book through, and we understand what Thuggee was, what a bloody terror it was, what a desolating scourge it was.  In 1830 the English found this cancerous organization imbedded in the vitals of the empire, doing its devastating work in secrecy, and assisted, protected, sheltered, and hidden by innumerable confederates —­big and little native chiefs, customs officers, village officials, and native police, all ready to lie for it, and the mass of the people, through fear, persistently pretending to know nothing about its doings; and this condition of things had existed for generations, and was formidable with the sanctions of age and old custom.  If ever there was an unpromising task, if ever there was a hopeless task in the world, surely it was offered here—­the task of conquering Thuggee.  But that little handful of English officials in India set their sturdy and confident grip upon it, and ripped it out, root and branch!  How modest do Captain Vallancey’s words sound now, when we read them again, knowing what we know: 

     “The day that sees this far-spread evil completely eradicated from
     India, and known only in name, will greatly tend to immortalize
     British rule in the East.”

It would be hard to word a claim more modestly than that for this most noble work.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with. 
                                  —­Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

We left Bombay for Allahabad by a night train.  It is the custom of the country to avoid day travel when it can conveniently be done.  But there is one trouble:  while you can seemingly “secure” the two lower berths by making early application, there is no ticket as witness of it, and no other producible evidence in case your proprietorship shall chance to be challenged.  The word “engaged” appears on the window, but it doesn’t state who the compartment is engaged, for.  If your Satan and your Barney arrive before somebody else’s servants, and spread the bedding on the two sofas and then stand guard till you come, all will be well; but if they step aside on an errand, they may find the beds promoted to the two shelves, and somebody else’s demons standing guard over their master’s beds, which in the meantime have been spread upon your sofas.

You do not pay anything extra for your sleeping place; that is where the trouble lies.  If you buy a fare-ticket and fail to use it, there is room thus made available for someone else; but if the place were secured to you it would remain vacant, and yet your ticket would secure you another place when you were presently ready to travel.