"I cannot make out how you came to suspect them, Dick."
"I can hardly account for it myself, but, as I told you, I did not
like the look of that man, and I had an uneasy sort of feeling, which
I could not explain even to myself, that there was danger in the air."
"But what made you think of these Stranglers? I had heard some talk
about them, but never anything for certain."
"The Rajah told me, when he was warning me against joining parties of
travellers, that although very little was known about the
organisation, it was certain that there was a sect who strangled and
robbed travellers in great numbers. He said that he was aware that
complaints had been made, to princes all over India, of numbers of
persons being missing; and that it was certain that these murders were
not the work of ordinary dacoits, but of some secret association; and
that even powerful princes were afraid to take any steps against it,
as one or two, who had made efforts to investigate the affair, had
been found strangled in their beds. Therefore, no one cared to take
any steps to search into the matter. It was not known whether these
Stranglers, scattered as they were very widely, obeyed one common
chief, or whether they acted separately; but all were glad to leave
this mysterious organisation alone, especially as they preyed only on
travellers, and in no case meddled in any way with rajahs, or
officials, who did not interfere with them.
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