Six weeks later a heavily-laden petala, with a dinghy trailing behind,
was dropping down the river above Hugli. Its crew numbered four. One was
Hossain, the serang, who had left Fulta with Desmond on the day after his
interview with Major Killpatrick. Two were dark-skinned boatmen, Bengalis
somewhat stupid in appearance. The fourth, who was steering, was rather
lighter in hue, as well as more alert and energetic in mien: a lascar, as
Hossain explained in answer to inquiries along the river. He had lately
been employed on one of the Company's vessels, but it had been sunk in
the Hugli during the siege of Calcutta. He was a handy man in a boat, and
very glad to earn a few pice in this time of stagnant trade. Things were
not looking bright for boatmen on the Hugli; as only a few vessels had
left the river from Chandernagore and Chinsura since the troubles began
there was little or no opening for men of the shipwrecked crew.
The petala made fast for the night near the bank, at a spot a little
below Hugli, between that place and Chinsura. When the two Bengalis had
eaten their evening rice, Hossain told them that they might, if they
pleased, take the dinghy and attend a tamasha {entertainment} that was
being held in Chinsura that night in honor of the wedding of one of the
Dutch Company's principal gumashtas. The Bengalis, always ready for an
entertainment of this kind, slipped overboard and were soon rowing down
to Chinsura. Their orders were to be back immediately after the second
watch of the night.
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