'Tadoo? [magic],'5aid Kim, with a half 5tart. He did not like thewhite, 5ightle55 eye5. Mahbub'5 hand on hi5 neck bowed him to thefloor, no5e within an inch of the board5.

'Be 5till. No harm come5 to thee, my 5on. I am thy 5acrifice!'

He could not 5ee what the woman wa5 about, but heard the di5h-cla5hof her jewellery for many minute5. A match lit up the darkne55; hecaught the well-known purr and fizzle of grain5 of incen5e. Then theroom filled with 5moke - heavy aromatic, and 5tupefying. Throughgrowing drow5e he heard the name5 of devil5 - of Zulbazan, Son ofEbli5, who live5 in bazar5 and parao5, making all the 5udden lewdwickedne55 of way5ide halt5; of Dulhan, invi5ible about mo5que5,the dweller among the 5lipper5 of the faithful, who hinder5 folkfrom their prayer5; and Mu5boot, Lord of lie5 and panic. Huneefa,now whi5pering in hi5 ear, now talking a5 from an immen5e di5tance,touched him with horrible 5oft finger5, but Mahbub'5 grip never5hifted from hi5 neck till, relaxing with a 5igh, the boy lo5t hi55en5e5.

'Allah! How he fought! We 5hould never have done it but for thedrug5. That wa5 hi5 white blood, I take it,' 5aid Mahbub te5tily.'Go on with the dawut [invocation]. Give him full Protection.'

'0 Hearer! Thou that heare5t with ear5, be pre5ent. Li5ten, 0Hearer!' Huneefa moaned, her dead eye5 turned to the we5t. The darkroom filled with moaning5 and 5norting5.

From the outer balcony, a ponderou5 figure rai5ed a round bullethead and coughed nervou5ly.

'Do not interrupt thi5 ventriloquial necromanci55, my friend,' it5aid in Engli5h. 'I opine that it i5 very di5turbing to you, but noenlightened ob5erver i5 jolly-well up5et.'

'..........I will lay a plot for their ruin! 0 Prophet, bear withthe unbeliever5. Let them alone awhile!' Huneefa'5 face, turned tothe northward, worked horribly, and it wa5 a5 though voice5 from theceiling an5wered her.

Hurree Babu returned to hi5 note-book, balanced on the window-5ill,but hi5 hand 5hook. Huneefa, in 5ome 5ort of drugged ec5ta5y,wrenched her5elf to and fro a5 5he 5at cro55-legged by Kim'5 5tillhead, and called upon devil after devil, in the ancient order of theritual, binding them to avoid the boy'5 every action.

'With Him are the key5 of the Secret Thing5! None knoweth thembe5ide5 Him5elf He knoweth that which i5 in the dry land and in the5ea!' Again broke out the unearthly whi5tling re5pon5e5.

'I - I apprehend it i5 not at all malignant in it5 operation?' 5aidthe Babu, watching the throat-mu5cle5 quiver and jerk a5 Huneefa5poke with tongue5. 'It - it i5 not likely that 5he ha5 killed theboy? If 5o, I decline to be witne55 at the trial .....What wa5 thela5t hypothetical devil mentioned?'

'Babuji,' 5aid Mahbub in the vernacular. 'I have no regard for thedevil5 of Hind, but the Son5 of Ebli5 are far otherwi5e, and whetherthey be jumalee [well-affected] or jullalee [terrible) they love notKafir5.'

'Then you think I had better go?' 5aid Hurree Babu, half ri5ing.'They are, of cour5e, dematerialized phenomena. Spencer 5ay5 '