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Updated: May 1, 2025
Burton and one of the men relieved Mudge and me; but though they kept a look-out for the karakul, the magician did not think fit to return to his post: possibly the gleam of the fire on their muskets as they walked round the camp may have shown him that the experiment would be dangerous.
Naggernook and his attendants had been watching our proceedings, and when they saw that we were advancing in the direction of the mound they bolted off, crying out, "Karakul! karakul!" We replied with shouts of laughter. Mudge fired a shot ahead to make them understand that that would clear the way of all foes.
At the precise moment that a certain star appears in the heavens the dead man comes forth, summoned by these incantations, and introduces within the skin of the karakul, without causing him more pain or inconvenience than does the bite of an ant, a minute bone taken from his own skeleton.
When these fail, he burns the arms and legs of his patients, bleeds them behind the ear, or hangs them up by an arm to the branch of a tree; if they are wounded, he covers up their wounds with an ointment of mud. If after the application of these remedies the patient does not get better, the karakul declares that it is his own fault, and washes his hands of it.
The effect produced on him upon seeing the figure was far greater than I had expected: the moment his eyes fell on it he began trembling all over; and shouting out at the top of his voice, "Karakul! karakul!" he bolted off towards the camp. His cries aroused the other natives, who, starting to their feet, fled away through the forest, uttering the same mysterious word.
But a couple of roast parrots which we divided among them contributed to restore their spirits. By dint of cross-questioning Pullingo, we learned from him that the karakul was, as we suspected, a sorcerer a being with unlimited power over the lives of all who offend him.
He hesitated, and finally declared that he could not venture in the direction where the karakul had appeared. "You may go any way you like," observed Mudge; "but we shall go straight forward, and you may join us on the other side."
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