Sudden death

An old sinner, in shape of a khansamah, is the genius of the place, and has rarely aught else to tempt the tired traveller with than a “sudden death”—a fowl caught running in the yard, and dished up forthwith; […]

Our next dish is one which has shown no signs of scarcity since we reached India, — the ever present chicken, or “sudden death,” as it is called here, from the Anglo-Indian custom of cooking a fowl that has been running about the garden half an hour before.