CHAPTER VII.
Hardly an incident showing an insurrectionary temper in the people, occurred while our route lay through Bengal Proper; but no sooner had we crossed the quiet Gunduk, and invaded the Gorukpūr district, where martial law had been proclaimed, than the hostile disposition of the inhabitants began to make itself manifest without the slightest disguise.
The sudden mortality among our horses and beasts of burden inspired us with misgivings that they were falling a sacrifice to poison; but as cattle-poisoning with arsenic, for the sake of the hides, is followed by low-caste curriers as a professional calling in many parts of India, this mortality may not, perhaps, have been occasioned by feelings of hostility among the people with whom our acquaintance had only just commenced. To allay our suspicions, however, the carcases of all animals that died in camp, were always sabred and slashed into ribbons prior to our changing ground.
The budmāshes (vagabonds), too, were “up and doing,” and with such daring boldness were they at work that some were actually seized in broad daylight freebooting in disguise on the outskirts of the camp.
