Kim

drowse he heard the names of devils--of Zulbazan, Son of Eblis, who

lives in bazars and paraos, making all the sudden lewd wickedness of

wayside halts; of Dulhan, invisible about mosques, the dweller among

the slippers of the faithful, who hinders folk from their prayers; and

Musboot, Lord of lies and panic. Huneefa, now whispering in his ear,

now talking as from an immense distance, touched him with horrible soft

fingers, but Mahbub's grip never shifted from his neck till, relaxing

with a sigh, the boy lost his senses.

'Allah! How he fought! We should never have done it but for the

drugs. That was his white blood, I take it,' said Mahbub testily. 'Go

on with the dawut [invocation]. Give him full Protection.'

'O Hearer! Thou that hearest with ears, be present. Listen, O

Hearer!' Huneefa moaned, her dead eyes turned to the west. The dark

room filled with moanings and snortings.

From the outer balcony, a ponderous figure raised a round bullet head

and coughed nervously.

'Do not interrupt this ventriloquial necromanciss, my friend,' it said

in English. 'I opine that it is very disturbing to you, but no

enlightened observer is jolly-well upset.'

'..........I will lay a plot for their ruin! O Prophet, bear with the

unbelievers. Let them alone awhile!' Huneefa's face, turned to the

northward, worked horribly, and it was as though voices from the

ceiling answered her.

Hurree Babu returned to his note-book, balanced on the window-sill, but

his hand shook. Huneefa, in some sort of drugged ecstasy, wrenched

herself to and fro as she sat cross-legged by Kim's still head, and

called upon devil after devil, in the ancient order of the ritual,

binding them to avoid the boy's every action.

'With Him are the keys of the Secret Things! None knoweth them besides

Himself He knoweth that which is in the dry land and in the sea!'

Again broke out the unearthly whistling responses.

'I--I apprehend it is not at all malignant in its operation?' said the

Babu, watching the throat-muscles quiver and jerk as Huneefa spoke with

tongues. 'It--it is not likely that she has killed the boy? If so, I

decline to be witness at the trial .....What was the last hypothetical

devil mentioned?'

'Babuji,' said Mahbub in the vernacular. 'I have no regard for the

devils of Hind, but the Sons of Eblis are far otherwise, and whether

they be jumalee [well-affected] or jullalee [terrible] they love not

Kafirs.'

'Then you think I had better go?' said Hurree Babu, half rising. 'They

are, of course, dematerialized phenomena. Spencer says.'

Huneefa's crisis passed, as these things must, in a paroxysm of

howling, with a touch of froth at the lips. She lay spent and

motionless beside Kim, and the crazy voices ceased.

'Wah! That work is done. May the boy be better for it; and Huneefa is

surely a mistress of dawut. Help haul her aside, Babu. Do not be

afraid.'

'How am I to fear the absolutely non-existent?' said Hurree Babu,

talking English to reassure himself. It is an awful thing still to

dread the magic that you contemptuously investigate--to collect

folk-lore for the Royal Society with a lively belief in all Powers of

Darkness.

Mahbub chuckled. He had been out with Hurree on the Road ere now. 'Let

us finish the colouring,' said he. 'The boy is well protected if--if

the Lords of the Air have ears to hear. I am a Sufi [free-thinker],

but when one can get blind-sides of a woman, a stallion, or a devil,

why go round to invite a kick? Set him upon the way, Babu, and see

that old Red Hat does not lead him beyond our reach. I must get back

to my horses.'

'All raight,' said Hurree Babu. 'He is at present curious spectacle.'

About third cockcrow, Kim woke after a sleep of thousands of years.

Huneefa, in her corner, snored heavily, but Mahbub was gone.

'I hope you were not frightened,' said an oily voice at his elbow. 'I

superintended entire operation, which was most interesting from

ethnological point of view. It was high-class dawut.'

'Huh!' said Kim, recognizing Hurree Babu, who smiled ingratiatingly.

'And also I had honour to bring down from Lurgan your present costume.

I am not in the habit offeecially of carrying such gauds to

subordinates, but'--he giggled--'your case is noted as exceptional on

the books. I hope Mr Lurgan will note my action.'

Kim yawned and stretched himself. It was good to turn and twist within

loose clothes once again.

'What is this?' He looked curiously at the heavy duffle-stuff loaded

with the scents of the far North.

'Oho! That is inconspicuous dress of chela attached to service of

lamaistic lama. Complete in every particular,' said Hurree Babu,

rolling into the balcony to clean his teeth at a goglet. 'I am of

opeenion it is not your old gentleman's precise releegion, but rather

sub-variant of same. I have contributed rejected notes To Whom It May

Concern: Asiatic Quarterly Review on these subjects. Now it is

curious that the old gentleman himself is totally devoid of

releegiosity. He is not a dam' particular.'

'Do you know him?'

Hurree Babu held up his hand to show he was engaged in the prescribed

rites that accompany tooth-cleaning and such things among decently bred

Bengalis. Then he recited in English an Arya-Somaj prayer of a

theistical nature, and stuffed his mouth with pan and betel.

'Oah yes. I have met him several times at Benares, and also at Buddh

Gaya, to interrogate him on releegious points and devil-worship. He is

pure agnostic--same as me.'

Huneefa stirred in her sleep, and Hurree Babu jumped nervously to the

copper incense-burner, all black and discoloured in morning-light,

rubbed a finger in the accumulated lamp-black, and drew it diagonally

across his face.

'Who has died in thy house?' asked Kim in the vernacular.

'None. But she may have the Evil Eye--that sorceress,' the Babu

replied.

'What dost thou do now, then?'

'I will set thee on thy way to Benares, if thou goest thither, and tell

thee what must be known by Us.'

'I go. At what hour runs the te-rain?' He rose to his feet, looked

round the desolate chamber and at the yellow-wax face of Huneefa as the

low sun stole across the floor. 'Is there money to be paid that witch?'

'No. She has charmed thee against all devils and all dangers in the

name of her devils. It was Mahbub's desire.' In English: 'He is

highly obsolete, I think, to indulge in such supersteetion. Why, it is

all ventriloquy. Belly-speak--eh?'

Kim snapped his fingers mechanically to avert whatever evil--Mahbub, he

knew, meditated none--might have crept in through Huneefa's

ministrations; and Hurree giggled once more. But as he crossed the

room he was careful not to step in Huneefa's blotched, squat shadow on

the boards. Witches--when their time is on them--can lay hold of the

heels of a man's soul if he does that.

'Now you must well listen,' said the Babu when they were in the fresh

air. 'Part of these ceremonies which we witnessed they include supply

of effeecient amulet to those of our Department. If you feel in your

neck you will find one small silver amulet, verree cheap. That is ours.

Do you understand?'

'Oah yes, hawa-dilli [a heart-lifter],' said Kim, feeling at his neck.

'Huneefa she makes them for two rupees twelve annas with--oh, all sorts

of exorcisms. They are quite common, except they are partially black

enamel, and there is a paper inside each one full of names of local

saints and such things. Thatt is Huneefa's look-out, you see? Huneefa