280 WITH KITCHENER IN THE SOUDAN of sand and polished the rod till it shone, and afterwards wiped it carefully with a cloth. Then I inserted it in the wound very gently. It had entered but an inch and a half when it struck something hard which could only be the bullet. It was as I had hoped, the ball had been almost spent when it struck him. Saleh was awake now, and had at once consented to my suggestion, having come to have implicit faith in me.

“It is, you see, Saleh, just as I had hoped. I felt sure that it could not have gone in far, as in that case you could never have walked twenty miles from the battle-field to the point where you met me. How, if I had a proper instrument I might be able to extract the bullet. I might hurt you in doing so, but if I could get it out you would recover speedily ; while if it remains where it is, the wound may infiame and you will die.’

‘ I am not afraid of pain, Mudil.’

• I could touch the ball with my finger, but beyond feeling that the flesh in which it was embedded was not solid to the touch, I could do nothing towards getting the ball out. I dare not try to enlarge the wound so as to get two fingers in. After thinking the matter over in every way I decided that the only (Chance was to make a tool from the ramrod. I heated this again and again, flattening it with the pistolbarrel till it was not more than a tenth of an inch thick; then I cut from the centre a strip about a quarter of an inch wide. I then rubbed down the edges of the strip on a stone till they were perfectly smooth, and bent the end into a curve. I again heated it to a dull red and plunged it into water to harden it, and finally rubbed it with a little oil. It was late in the evening before I was satisfied with my work.

‘How, Saleh,’ I said, ‘I am going to try if this will do. If I had one of the tools I have seen the white hakims use, I am sure I could get the ball out easily enough, but I think I can succeed with this. If I cannot, I must make another like it, so as to put one down each side of the bullet. You