A ruGiTiVE 283 proached. I went up to them, and they said : We hear that you are a hakim who has done great things/ “‘I am no hakim,’ I said; was just coming to you to tell you so. The man I aided was a friend and was not deeply wounded. Having seen a white hakim take bullets from wounded men, I tried my best, and as the bullet was but a short way in I succeeded. If I had had the instruments I saw the infidel use it would have been easy, but I had to make an instrument, which sufiiced for the purpose, although it would have been of no use had the bullet gone in deeper.’

They came in and examined Saleh’s wound, the bullet, and the tool I had made.

“ ‘ It is well,’ they said ; you have profited by what you saw. Whence do you come ?

’ “ I told the same story that I had told Saleh.

‘ You have been some time at Khartoum?

’ ‘ Hot very long,’ I said; but I went down once to Cairo, and was there some years. It was there I came to know something of the ways of the infidels. I am a poor man and very ignorant, but if you will allow me I will act as your assistant, as I know that there are many wounded here. If you will tell me what to do I will follow your instructions carefully.’

The two hakims looked more satisfied at finding that I was not a dangerous rival. One said: Among the things that have been brought in here is a box. Those who brought it did not know what it contained, and it was too strong for them to open, though of course they were able to hammer it and break it open. It contained nothing but many shining instruments, but the only one that we knew the purport of was a saw. There were two boxes of the same shape, and the other contained a number of little bottles of drugs; and we thought that maybe as the boxes were alike, these shining instruments were used by the white hakim.’

I can tell you that if I see them,’ I said, and went with