udge
standing. 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. The noise
they made, of course, aroused every one in the camp; and my father and
Burton quickly joined us, inquiring what was the matter. We had
naturally looked to see what had become of the blacks, and when we
turned our eyes again towards the mound the mysterious figure had
disappeared.

"We must try and find the fellow, and teach him not to play his tricks
before us," exclaimed Mudge, dashing forward. I and most of the party
followed. Harry, however, brave as he was on most occasions, seemed
almost as much frightened as the blacks, and entreated us to let the
ghosts alone.

In vain we hunted round and round the mound; no one could we discover:
indeed, in the darkness, a person well acquainted with the locality
could easily have escaped, and might still be hiding not far off.

"There's no use in looking further for the fellow," observed Mudge; "but
we must let him see that we are not frightened by his tricks."

Returning to the camp, we made up the fire, and then went in search of
Pullingo and his friends. After some time we found them, crouching down
together in the hollow of a tree some way on the other side of the camp.
Either they were very much alarmed, or they pretended to be so: their
teeth were chattering, their limbs shaking, as they all clung together,
holding each other's hands, and looking out of their hole with staring
eyeballs; even their hair appeared to have assumed an upright position,
as if it was standing on end. If not really frightened, they certainly
acted their parts very cleverly. Calling Paddy, who had now recovered,
and seemed rather ashamed of himself, we got him to persuade Pullingo
and his friends to come with us to the fire; round which they sat down
in their usual fashion, as if nothing had happened. I observed,
however, that they looked every now and then in the direction in which
the figure had appeared, and occasionally cast suspicious glances behind
them. But a couple of roast parrots which we divided among them
contributed to restore their spirits.

By dint of cross-questioning Pullin