Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/157

Rh called to them in an agitated voice to draw him up at once, and on reaching the surface of the earth informed them in tones of horror that he had seen an Afrît."

"Seen a what?"

"An Afrît, an evil spirit. There is no Psychical Society among the Arabs, you know. They are not curious about ghosts. They are simply afraid of them, and give them as wide a berth as possible."

"I see; Ahmed's little ruse was intended to discourage further excavations on that particular spot?"

"Exactly; but observe the thoroughness of his dispositions. It evidently occurred to him that his brother or the other man might on further reflection consider the Afrît story too 'thin,' so after dark that very same night he returned on donkey-back to the spot, accompanied by his wife, whom, like a wise man, he took into his confidence, and, arriving at the shaft, he dismounted and threw the wretched creature—I need hardly say I mean