If allowed to approach a tent, he will select that side where several servants are asleep under the fly, or awning, and gradually insinuate himself into the interior, either by passing under the walls, or between the overlaps; if such cannot be easily effected, he draws his _choory_, (knife,) which is sharpened for the occasion, and makes a slit in the cloth, or canvas, large enough to pass his body through, when, in the most cautious manner, and retaining his breath as much as possible, he gropes about for those articles which, during the day-time, he had seen deposited in some particular part of the tent, and, after making an opening large enough for his purpose, or by opening one of the doors, he watches the opportunity for escaping with his booty.
The attempt to seize a thief under such circumstances, is extremely hazardous, and ought to be strongly reprehended. Being perfectly naked, and having the body highly lubricated with oil, it is impossible to grasp him in any part; while, on the other hand, he must be expected to use his knife very freely, under the determination of escaping.
I recollect a curious circumstance that happened in 1783, at Bankypore, when the tent of a staff-officer was entered, during the night, by a fellow of this description, who, it being moon-light, and one part of the tent only closed by a _cheek_, was discovered by the gentleman as he lay in bed. Seeing his property on the move, he sprang up to disengage a hog-spear that was tied up to that pole of the _marquee_ which was nearest the bed; but the thief got the start of him, by seizing the officer’s sword, which was suspended by a hook that buckled on to the other pole. The adventurer being thus armed, prevented the gentleman from getting possession of the spear: after one or two menacing flourishes, he darted out of the tent, sword in hand, and was speedily beyond the reach of pursuit.
Another very ludicrous circumstance occurred some years antecedent to the above. A gentleman who inhabited a small _bungalow_, on the banks of a river, and who was very ill of that complaint ‘the liver,’ for which he was under a course of mercury, perceived, in the dusk of the evening, a thief prowling about the apartment in which he was sitting. The fellow was extremely industrious: and threw a number of articles, not even sparing the bed-linen, out at a window that stood open. The gentleman affected to take no notice, but resolved, when the thief should follow his booty, to take him by surprize, while in the act of collecting them from under the window.