` Urr-urr-urr-urr ! Ya-la-la-la-la ! Narain ! The churel ! The churel ! ' A churel is the peculiarly malignant ghost of a woman who has died in child-bed . She haunts lonely roads , her feet are turned backwards on the ankles , and she leads men to torment . Louder rose Kim 's quavering howl , till at last he leaped to his feet and staggered off sleepily , while the camp cursed him for waking them . Some twenty yards farther up the line he lay down again , taking care that the whisperers should hear his grunts and groans as he recomposed himself . After a few minutes he rolled towards the road and stole away into the thick darkness . He paddled along swiftly till he came to a culvert , and dropped behind it , his chin on a level with the coping-stone . Here he could command all the night-traffic , himself unseen . Two or three carts passed , jingling out to the suburbs ; a coughing policeman and a hurrying foot-passenger or two who sang to keep off evil spirits . Then rapped the shod feet of a horse . ` Ah ! This is more like Mahbub , ' thought Kim , as the beast shied at the little head above the culvert . ` Ohe ' , Mahbub Ali , ' he whispered , ` have a care ! ' The horse was reined back almost on its haunches , and forced towards the culvert . ` Never again , ' said Mahbub , ` will I take a shod horse for night-work . They pick up all the bones and nails in the city . '
He stooped to lift its forefoot , and that brought his head within a foot of XXXXX 's .
Ali Kim Mahbub Narain Ohe Urr-urr-urr-urr churel coping-stone culvert whisperers