About ten o'clock in the morning
`` In your hands , I have been what we all ought to be in the hands of our superiors -- a mere instrument : since , for the greater glory of God , we become corpses with regard to the will . -LSB- 7 -RSB- Men may deny our unity and power , and the times appear opposed to us ; but circumstances only change ; we are ever the same . `` Obedience and courage , secrecy and patience , craft and audacity , union and devotion -- these become us , who have the world for our country , our brethren for family , Rome for our Queen ! `` J. V. '' About ten o'clock in the morning , Mahal the Smuggler set out with this despatch -LRB- sealed -RRB- in his possession , to board the `` Ruyter . '' An hour later , the dead body of this same Mahal , strangled by Thuggee , lay concealed beneath some reeds on the edge of a desert strand , whither he had gone to take boat to join the vessel . When at a subsequent period , after the departure of the steamship , they found the corpse of the smuggler , M. Joshua sought in vain for the voluminous packet , which he had entrusted to his care . Neither was there any trace of the note which Mahal was to have delivered to the captain of the `` Ruyter , '' in order to be received as passenger .