[Following the Equator by Mark Twain]@TWC D-Link bookFollowing the Equator CHAPTER XLVI 18/21
I think it takes a double handful of pice to make an anna, and 16 annas to make a rupee; and even in those days the rupee was worth only half a dollar.
Coming back over their tracks from Baroda, they had another picturesque stroke of luck: "'The Lohars of Oodeypore' put a traveler in their charge for safety." Dear, dear, across this abyssmal gulf of time we still see Feringhea's lips uncover his teeth, and through the dim haze we catch the incandescent glimmer of his smile.
He accepted that trust, good man; and so we know what went with the traveler. Even Rajahs had no terrors for Feringhea; he came across an elephant-driver belonging to the Rajah of Oodeypore and promptly strangled him. "A total of 100 men and 5 women murdered on this expedition." Among the reports of expeditions we find mention of victims of almost every quality and estate: Native soldiers. Fakeers. Mendicants. Holy-water carriers. Carpenters. Peddlers. Tailors. Blacksmiths. Policemen (native). Pastry cooks. Grooms. Mecca pilgrims. Chuprassies. Treasure-bearers. Children. Cowherds. Gardeners. Shopkeepers. Palanquin-bearers. Farmers. Bullock-drivers. Male servants seeking work. Women servants seeking work. Shepherds. Archers. Table-waiters. Weavers. Priests. Bankers. Boatmen. Merchants. Grass-cutters. Also a prince's cook; and even the water-carrier of that sublime lord of lords and king of kings, the Governor-General of India! How broad they were in their tastes! They also murdered actors--poor wandering barnstormers.
There are two instances recorded; the first one by a gang of Thugs under a chief who soils a great name borne by a better man -- Kipling's deathless "Gungadin": "After murdering 4 sepoys, going on toward Indore, met 4 strolling players, and persuaded them to come with us, on the pretense that we would see their performance at the next stage.
Murdered them at a temple near Bhopal." Second instance: "At Deohuttee, joined by comedians.
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