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Then came a pause, and I noticed, with horror and a rising of the hair,
that the woman next to Mahomed began to fondle him, patting his cheeks
and calling him by names of endearment while her fierce eyes played up
and down his trembling form. I do not know why the sight frightened me
so, but it did frighten us all dreadfully, especially Leo. The caressing
was so snake-like, and so evidently a part of some ghastly formula that
had to be gone through.[*] I saw Mahomed turn white under his brown
skin, sickly white with fear.
[*] We afterwards learnt that its object was to pretend to
the victim that he was the object of love and admiration,
and so to sooth his injured feelings, and cause him to
expire in a happy and contented frame of mind.--L. H. H.
"Is the meat ready to be cooked?" asked the voice, more rapidly.
"_It is ready; it is ready._"
"Is the pot hot to cook it?" it continued, in a sort of scream that
echoed painfully down the great recesses of the cave.


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