"Among the relatives who pressed around the funeral pile, I saw Balty
Mahu; and indignation for a moment got the better of grief. The pile was
now lighted, and in a moment all was hidden in smoke. I sickened at the
sight, and was obliged to turn away. Even then I heard, or thought I
heard, the dying shrieks of the victim, amid the groans and cries, and
the thousand shouts that rent the air! The pile and its contents being
now enveloped in flame, my keepers set me free, when, by an impulse of
frenzy, I rushed' to the pile, to make a last vain effort to rescue
Veenah, or to share her fate; but was stopped by some of the bystanders,
who called my act a profanation.
"'Yes,' said Balty Mahu, 'he has always been a scoffer of our religion.'
As soon as these words reached my ears, with the quickness of thought I
snatched a cimeter from the hands of one of the guards, and plunged it
in his breast. Of all that happened afterwards, my recollection is very
confused. I was rudely seized, and hurried to prison. My father was
coming to meet me, when he was informed of the fatal deed. I remember
that my coolness, or rather stupor, was in strong contrast with the
violence of his emotion. He accompanied me to prison, and continued with
me that night.
"It is not easy to take the life of one of my caste in India; and, by
dint of the exertions of my friends, in spite of the influence of Shunah
Shoo, and the family of the Omrah, I was pardoned, on condition of doing
penance, which was, that I should never live in a country in which the
religion of Brahmin prevailed, and should not again look at, or converse
with, any woman for two minutes together.
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