door."

"We could not have a better case for a trial," he said, as he went
downstairs and joined Cyril, whom he had bidden wait below. "The
people are all calm and sensible, and if we succeed not here, there
is small chance of our succeeding elsewhere."

The doctor then gave detailed orders as to fumigating the house, and
left. Cyril saw at once that a brazier of charcoal was lighted and
carried upstairs, and he called to the girl to come out and fetch it
in. As soon as she had done so the sheet was hung over the door. Then
he took another brazier, placed it in the room from which the boy had
been carried, laid several lumps of sulphur upon it, and then left
the room. All the doors of the other rooms were then thrown open, and
a quantity of tobacco, spices, and herbs, were burnt on a red-hot
iron at the foot of the stairs, until the house was filled with a
dense smoke. Half an hour later all the windows were opened.




CHAPTER XVI

FATHER AND SON


The process of fumigation had well-nigh suffocated the wife and
daughter of the trader, but, as soon as the smoke cleared away, Cyril
set them all to work to carry up articles of furniture to another
bedroom on the top floor.