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SWIFT RETRIBUTION
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search warrant and requested that the ladies of the house might retire and shut themselves in the kitchen till the search was over.

The Daroga then entered the house and began his operations. He told the constables to take all the boxes and trunks from the different rooms and heap them up in the court-yard. This done, he unlocked such boxes the keys of which were forthcoming. The rest were forced open. He caused the contents of all the boxes to be thrown down in a heap and began his search by kicking them about. Shawls, alwans, saris from the looms of Dacca and Santipur, coats, shirts, chemises, blouses, handkerchiefs, socks flew about in every direction. From the box belonging to the Doctor Babu's daughter-in-law came out a bundle of love-letters from her young husband. The Daroga grabbed the bundle saying—"Evidence of sedition and conspiracy—to be sure." He stowed it away very carefully in the inside pocket of his coat. From Ajay Chandra's box came out a copy of Ananda Math.[1] The Daroga yelled with delight and pounced upon it. When the contents of the boxes had been ransacked the Daroga visited each room in succession and broke open almirahs, drawers,—in fact everything he could lay his hands on. The

  1. A patriotic novel by the late Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the most eminent Bengalee writer of modern times.