‘Do not delay,’ said Kummoo’s mother; ‘I am unclean; ye will be defiled if ye stay here; she is within, in the chamber.’ They obeyed her, and entered it. It was a small square room; the floor was of beaten clay, and had been most carefully swept; the walls and roof were quite bare, and there was nothing whatever in the apartment. The old woman sat at the head of a square figure, divided into many compartments, traced on the floor, in which were written many Arabic characters and ciphers; the figure was a rude imitation of a man, in square lines and crosses; and the silence, the dim light of a miserable lamp, and the crouching figure of the old crone, who was mumbling some words as her beads passed rapidly through her fingers, inspired them with dread.
‘Soh! ye are come at last, children,’ she said, in answer to their benediction; ‘are ye pure from all taint? In the name of Soleemān! of Pharoon! of Shudad! of Israeel! of Ulleekun and Mulleeckun! I conjure ye to say the truth. If ye are not, beware! for the evil of this will fall upon ye.’
‘We are pure, O mother! we have eaten only what thou hast directed, and bathed as it was necessary.’
‘Good! Now attend: here is a knife, and I have here a white fowl; one of you must behead it and scatter the blood over the charm.’
Both hesitated and trembled.
‘Shame on ye, cowards!’ cried the crone. ‘Shame! without this the charm is vain—the offering is vain! Without this, do ye think they will attend to hear your commands?’
‘Who, mother?’
‘Who?—Muleeka, Hamoos, Mublut, Yoosuf, the deputies of the Shitan, Mullik Yeitshan, Shekh Suddoo, the Father of Mischief. Obey! I tell ye the time passes, and your livers will dry up instead of hers, if ye refuse to do this.’
Both again hesitated, but Kummoo was daring; she at last seized the knife and the fowl, and, in very desperation, at one stroke severed the head from the body.
‘Hold it fast! hold it fast!’ cried the crone, for its convulsive motions could hardly be restrained; ‘it bleeds well—that is a good sign; so now hold it there: let the blood sprinkle over all. They are present now; I feel they drink the blood.’ And she continued her incantation in a low tone, while her hearers were paralysed with fear.